The Fixer
by Oz2121
Summary: When time is running out and Lincoln's final appeal fails, Michael puts a contingency plan into action to prevent the execution from going ahead.
1. Chapter 1

Outside Fox Rivers blue stone and razor wire walls, cameras, reporters and picketers have gathered.

"Once again Fox River is surrounded by picketers protesting the death penalty as all avenues by Lincoln Burrows legal team have been exhausted and the death sentence is once again scheduled to be carried out within 48 hours." Samantha Wilhem, a local reporter begins her nightly report as in the background amongst the lights and shouting, a young, blonde woman wanders back and forth, looking lost, dishevelled, tears streaming down her face. The woman turns away from the prison walls and her eyes lock onto the camera from behind the reporter. With sudden determination the young woman rushes towards the reporter, pulling a piece of paper from her pocket, but is stopped in her tracks by the reporters' assistant.

"Where do you think your going?"

"I just…I need to speak to Ms Wilhem…" The young woman replies in an Australian Accent.

"I don't think so, sweetheart…"

"I'm Lincoln Burrows wife."

"…No-one gets… What did you say? Do you have proof?"

The girl hands the crumpled paper to man. As he reads, his face lights up.

"Is this real?" He asks the girl, with disbelief.

"Yes. Please you have to help me! My name is Ella Beaumont-Burrows. The guards won't let me inside…" Ella's voice trails off into a sob as tears begin to cloud vision again.

"I'll do more than help you sweetheart, if you're willing to go on air right now, and give us the exclusive." Ella could tell this man thought he'd hit the jackpot. She nods and wipes her cheek.

"Don't do that. Tears add drama. There's a good girl. Come with me. Hurry!" The man hands her the wedding licence and drags her towards the reporter.

"Stand here until I wave you in. Then get nice and close to Samantha and when she asks you about proof hold that licence up nice and high so the camera can zoom in." The man rushes off and whispers into the reporters' ear.

"Breaking news in the Lincoln Burrows execution. A young woman claiming to be Lincoln's wife has been refused entry to the prison to see Burrows."

The man waves Ella towards the reporter.

"Here we have Ella Beaumont-Burrows the woman making these claims. Mrs Burrow, do you have proof of your claim?"

Ella nods, and holds up the wedding licence as the cameraman zooms in. The reporter continues.

"Mrs Burrows is it true that you have been refused entry to see your husband?"

"Yes. The guards won't even listen to me. I've been trying all night."

"But, Mrs Burrows why haven't you tried to see your husband before now?"

"I found out one week ago what was happening from a private detective and have only just arrived back in the country. I was in Australia. I have been desperately being trying to see him but no-one will help me."

"How long have you been out of the country?"

"Eleven months. Lincoln was supposed to be on a flight to Australia the day after police arrested him for murder…" Ella began sobbing. "I know him. He wouldn't kill anyone. He was going to move to Australia. We were going to start a family. He had a job, a baby on the way and a new life waiting for him when he arrived. Why would he throw that all away?" Ella wipes her tears away. "He wouldn't. I love him. I just want to be with him. He doesn't even know I'm here. He doesn't even know…" She turns away, her voice brakes and trails off into sobs.

"What doesn't Lincoln know, Ella?" The reporter asks, her fake concern obviously a cover for reckless curiosity and an instinct for a story.

"Ella, please tell me?" Samantha pleads, while gently turning Ella back to face the camera.

"He doesn't know that our baby died!" Ella blurts out, her face twisting in agony she puts her head in her hands and begins to cry.

The reporter turns away from Ella and faces into the camera.

"Just to repeat breaking news…"

Ella turns and steps a few feet away from the reporter, out of sight of the camera. That show should get her inside, which is a start.

Inside the Wardens' office, Pope listens to the local news as he tidies up for the night. The coverage of the commotion outside the walls begins and he stops to watch.

"Damn!" He exclaims to himself. He rushes over to the phone and calls the guards at the gates.

"The girl claiming to be Burrows wife."

The guard on the other end interrupts him.

"Don't worry sir, we sent that crank away."

"You idiots she is with that damn reporter, Samantha Wilhem right now. And she has a Wedding licence with Burrows name on it. Find her and get her in here. NOW!"

Ella sees the guard coming long before he reaches her. She slumps her shoulders and makes sure she appears distraught, burying her face in her hands again. The guard approaches.

"Mrs Burrows. If you could come with me please."

Ella looks up through fresh tears and replies "Its Beaumont-Burrows."

"My apologies, ma'am. This way please."

Ella allows the guard to guide her by the arm though the gates, under the big blue stone archway, that leads into the prison.

Ella tucks the reporter's card deep into her jeans pocket, knowing it will be useful. The guard leads Ella into a building, full of desks and small administrative looking rooms, down the hall towards a waiting room and a secretary's desk.

"Please wait here." The guard motions for Ella to sit, knocks on a door at the far end of the room and disappears through it. She wanders close to the couch but does not sit. Instead she hovers close, slowly pacing with her hand to her mouth, chewing at the nail on her index finger. She hates people who chew their nails but she knows there are cameras in the room.

An older man, with slightly greying hair, appears in the door as the guard exits the room and heads down the hall they have just come through.

"Please Mrs Beaumont-Burrows come in. I am the Warden of Fox River." Ella follows the warden into the room as he continues. "Please forgive my guards for turning you away before. There is a lot of confusion with the protesters and as you can understand we cannot afford to let just anyone onto the premises."

"It's okay."

Please have a seat." The warden gestures towards a chair as he sits behind a big mahogany desk.

"Please, I just want to see my husband."

"Yes of course. As you can appreciate, this is an unusual situation. I will try to organise for you to see him as soon as possible, but…" The warden hesitates. "It's a delicate situation…"

"I understand. You would like to see proof, right?"

"Yes, I'm sorry but protocol…"

Ella interrupts and produces the Wedding licence.

"It's okay. I understand your position. I don't want to cause you any problems." Ella gives the warden a weak, sad half smile. The warden returns the smile, picks up the licence, places his glasses on with the other hand and reads the paper thoroughly. Ella studies the room, noting the other door to her right, the books on the shelf behind to warden and the items on his desk. She catches the wardens' gaze as he looks up from the page.

"If I could ask you to wait outside, Mrs Beaumont-Burrows. I'll see what I can do for you."

"Please call me Ella."

She replies as the warden begins to lead her out of his office.

"Ella I will have to make some phone calls. So it may take some time."

"I've got all the time in the world. It's Lincoln that doesn't."

"I will do my best to organise for you to see him straight away."

"Thank-you, you have no idea what this means to me. To both of us."

The warden disappears back into his office and closes the door. Ella knew the appearance of an unknown wife of a death-row inmate only hours before his execution was big news and it would be bad publicity if she wasn't permitted to see her him.

The plan was progessing flawlessly. She only hoped Michael had a chance to update Lincoln on the plan.

The warden reappears in the doorway half an hour later.

"Ella, I have arranged for you to see Lincoln in one of the conjugal rooms, to allow you some privacy. The guards will of course be outside the door, but it's the best I could do."

"It's more than enough. Thank-you."

Ella flashes a sweet smile at the warden as he leads her into his office and out the second door into another corridor.

They arrive outside the conjugal room, where one of two guards lets the warden know Burrows is waiting inside. The warden opens the room and Ella follows him inside. Ella knows this is the moment. Either Lincoln knows of the plan and will play along, or she will have to bluff her way through.

From the moment her eyes meet Lincolns', she knows he doesn't know anything about the plan. She rushes past the warden, throws her arms around Lincolns' neck and kisses him passionately. Ella can see the look of surprise on Lincolns face and hopes the guards and the warden aren't looking too closely. Ella breaks away from the kiss and quickly hugs Lincoln. This gives her a chance to whisper into his ear. She knows she has to be quiet and concise in what she tells him and hope he hears enough to know to play along.

"Michael sent me. I'm Ella, your wife. Play along. Get them to leave the room. Ask about our baby."

She releases him, and ignoring the guards and the warden behind her, starts to sob.

"Oh Link, I've missed you so much. I didn't know what happened to you."

Ella hugs Lincoln again and repeats "Ask about our baby, now."

"I've missed you too. I'm so happy you're here." He releases the hug and asks. "The baby?"

Immediately Ella starts to cry. She knows how this display of overwhelming grief will make the guards and warden uncomfortable and leave the room. She throws her arms around Link and buries her face in his chest. She feels him nodding to the men behind her and through her sobs hears the door close. She pulls away and wipes her eyes. Ella gives Lincoln a barely perceivable smile, and sits on the bed.

"Nice job. Now down to business I guess."

She pats the spot next to her signalling Link to sit.

"Okay we haven't got much time, so I'll give you the cliff-notes and if there's time I'll fill in the gaps. Plus we will have to find a way to talk to Michael and let him know how the plan has changed."

Lincoln warily sits on the bed, leaning against the wall a distance away from Ella.

"We have to keep up the façade, or I'll be out on my arse." Ella gives Lincoln a quick smile as she swiftly moves and sits straddling his lap. Link is obviously surprised and shocked at this strange girls' boldness. Ella seems not to notice as she gently brushes the back of her hand against his cheek, and runs it down his arm until she finds his hand. She picks his hand up and intertwines her fingers in his. She kisses the back of his hand, looks into his eyes and kisses him. She pulls back knowing he is struggling to comprehend what is happening.

"Listen I know this is hard but you have to act like you're in love with me. Pretend I'm your lawyer friend if it helps." Lincoln frowns at her, and she knows he's not impressed. She backs off and tries a different approach. "Maybe we should start from the beginning. Hi."

"Hi" Lincoln replies reluctantly.

"I'm Ella Beaumont-Burrows. I will be playing the part of your young wife."

"And how is this supposed to get me out of here." Link growls in confusion, trying to push her aside. Ella grabs Lincoln by the thumb and twists it back causing him to squirm in pain. She looks into his eyes and he sees a sudden coldness. Suddenly he becomes unsure of who he is in the room with. She lets go, her eyes no longer threatening, and gently presses her lips to his.

"Link, sweetie-pie, you have to calm down, now is the time to pay attention. All will be revealed, but for now you need to know enough to get us by." She leans back and gives Link the sweetest, kindest smile he has ever seen.

"I know you want to know how I came to be involved but for now we have to bring you up to speed. Part 1 of our lives together- How we met"

"Are we just going to make it up?" Link asks, obviously tiring of trying to figure things out.

"Nope. There's a whole pre-written story that Michael and I know by heart, and you're going to learn tonight. Each story has to be the same to keep anyone from getting suspicious. The will be a quiz after I've finished so I suggest you pay attention."

Ella's eyes twinkle as she affectionately gives Link's shaved head a playful rub.

"I do love my man to have a close shave. Now to the story: It was a Thursday night, my Birthday in fact. August 6th. I didn't want to do anything special but my friends dragged me out to our local, the Cats Cradle."

"I know that bar. I used to go there all the time."

"I know. Most of the details will be based on the truth as much as possible to make it easier to keep our story straight, but it's the little details that matter so listen up. Anyway, you were there with a mate, playing pool. You were totally bogarting the only pool table in the pub and it was driving me nuts. I love playing pool and every birthday my friends and I drink tequila shots while we play. They wouldn't let me have any tequila until we were playing, so I was stuck drinking beer."

Ella screwed up her face and for the first time Link smiled, looking entertained. "Not a birthday drink at all. So I got quite drunk, some might say a little too much so, and stumbled over to confront you. After all you were denying me my shots."

"Never get between a girl and her birthday shots." Link jokes, obviously beginning to enjoy the story.

"Exactly. So I came over and told you off. Well of course you and your mate just laughed at this crazy drunk girl, which made me even crazier. Finally, I challenged you to a game to see who got to use the table for the rest of the night. Of course you accepted, thinking it would be an easy win. We played and teased each other, while my friends bought shot after shot of tequila. I won."

"Now that's not the truth is it?" Link teases Ella.

"Yes it is! I wouldn't lie to you about how we met!" She laughs. "Now stop interrupting."

"Sorry please go on." Link continues to listen and is surprised by how much he is enjoying to company of this quirky, possibly crazy girl.

"Anyway everyone left and we were alone. You let me win the next three games, which I knew you were doing, so I invited you to do one last shot and lick some salt of my chest as a consolation for losing. After that we went back to your place- and that is how we met!"

"It's an entertaining story. Probably not one you'd tell your grandchildren." Link replies.

"I think it's a great story. Very generic. Meeting in a seedy bar and hooking up. Part 2 of our story- The rest. We were together for two months before I accidentally got pregnant. When I told you I was surprised at how excited you were. Saying it was your chance to be a good father, and LJ would have a little brother or sister. We got married a week later, Michael was your best man. We made plans to move back to Australia were I had organised a job for you. I left a month later to tell my parents. That was two days before your arrest. Here's the best bit. I'm rich, tonnes of money. When you dropped me at the airport and as the first boarding call sounded for my flight you confessed you owed this guy 70 grand so I wrote out a cheque. You never cashed it but…"

"You have the cheque butt."

"Exactly!" Ella smiles, then gets serious. "Before you ask, I have a documents guy who whipped it up. Any forensic tests will say it was written on that day. Now your motive for killing the vice-presidents brother has gone. You had the money, all you had to do was cash it. I told you that you had to go to the police and warn them this guy was in danger. But you said you couldn't. That you would go to the garage and warn him on the night you were supposed to kill him. Here's the good bit, you took a gun because you thought it might be dangerous. As you approached the car you saw the guy slumped against the steering wheel and drew the gun. The following day you were due to fly to Australia to meet my family. The actual cheque is missing along with a lot of the evidence in you case seems to be, but the plane ticket has mysteriously turned up in your old apartment at the back of the cupboard."

"All this new evidence, the cheque butt and the ticket are all fake?" Link frowns.

"Technically, yes. But only Michael, you and I know it. And they are flawless. Even the best in the world couldn't tell they weren't real. Link, don't worry, I'm a professional. I have all the bases covered. Believe me it took some time and a lot of greasing the wheels, but the airport have records of the ticket in your name, the signature on the wedding licence is yours, even the ink and paper can be dated back to the days before your arrest. You just have to have a little faith."

Link looks at Ella as she says this.

"What?" Ella asks.

"It's just something Michael and I say."

"Speaking of Michael do you get to talk to him? I need him to know that the actress I paid for this job ran out with the money and I have taken her place." Link frowns again. "Don't worry, she left before she learned any of the details. It's only important because she was your preferred brunette and I'm a blonde. So if he gets asked to describe your wife before he knows we've swapped he'll get it wrong then we're screwed."

"We have chapel tomorrow first thing."

"Good. Tell him Oz had to change players at the last minute."

"Who's Oz?"

"Michael will now what it means. Now for the quiz. I hope you were paying attention. Would you prefer positive or negative reinforcement?" Ella's eyes sparkle as she asks this question.

"What do you mean?" Link asks, looking a little worried.

"Well I can slap you up and down this room until you get the details right or we could do something a little more fun for positive reinforcement."

"What did you have in mind?"

Ella leans forward and whispers in Lincolns' ear.

"I'll go for the positive reinforcement."

"I thought you might. The first button is a freebie, you have to earn the rest." Ella says as she undoes the top button on her white linen shirt.

The warden approaches the door to the conjugal room.

"I think its time Burrows is returned to his cell." The warden looks at his watch, 11:45pm.

"Yes sir, the guards unlock the door and the warden enters the room. He stops just inside the door and sees the girl sitting on top of Burrows, kissing him with her shirt unbuttoned.

Ella hears the warden and turns around, clutching her shirt closed and mimicking the wardens' obvious embarrassment, even though she's not embarrassed at all.

"I'm sorry to interrupt." The warden says looking away.

"That's okay." Ella turns her back on the warden, gives Lincoln a cheeky grin and begins to button up her shirt. She stands up and moves a step away from Lincoln, loosely crossing her arms across her chest and purposely not meeting the wardens gaze. Lincoln studies her, fascinated by how quickly she can change from one personality to another.

"Lincoln, its time for you to go back to your cell for the night." The warden motions for Lincoln to stand. Ella steps between them and begs the warden.

"Please can't we stay? I know it's a lot to ask but we haven't seen or spoken to each other in months." Her voice showing just enough desperation and her eyes welling with tears. She steps back and grips Lincoln's hand tightly in both hands.

"Ella, I understand you would like more time, but I have already broken the rules for you tonight."

Tears roll down Ella's cheek.

"I understand." She turns to Lincoln. "I love you." He brushes her tears away with the back of his hand, pulls her to his chest and kisses her on the top of her head.

"It's okay. Please don't cry."

Ella sobs louder, and hears the warden shifting his weight behind her, an obvious sign he's indecisive. She looks up into Lincolns' eyes.

"I don't want to go."

"I know, I know." Link strokes her soft blonde hair, and wipes away another tear. He pulls her close again and she buries her head into his chest. Link gives the warden what he hopes is a pleading look. The wardens' expression softens. He hates to see a woman cry.

"Maybe we could organise for you to stay, but only for tonight. You will have to leave before chapel in the morning."

Ella looks up.

"Thank-you." She breaks away from Lincolns' arms, walks over to the warden and hugs him. "Thank-you." She whispers in the wardens' ear. She can tell this sign of affection is making him uncomfortable and a waits an extra second before she lets go. She walks back over to Lincoln, takes his hand again, turns to the warden and smiles sweetly, while wiping away another tear.

"Thank-you, sir." Lincoln says to the warden as he leaves the room.

"If you need anything the guards will be outside the door." The warden replies as he closes the door and locks it.

"I can't believe he let you stay." Lincoln says in disbelief.

"I knew he would. His profile says he hates to see women cry." Ella smiles, winks at Link and plonks back down on the bed. "Now where were we?"


	2. Chapter 2 We all Fall Down

Lincoln sits in the front row in the chapel listening to the voice behind him.

"Link, don't lose hope I have a contingency plan already in motion."

"If it involves my imposter wife, I've met her. By the way- Thanks for the heads up, Michael."

"I didn't have a way to let you know what was going on. I'm sorry."

"I have a message from her for you. She says "Oz had to change players at the last minute". Who's Oz? You're not involved with anyone dangerous, are you?" Lincolns' protective brother instincts kicking in.

"Not at all."

"I could always tell when you were lying, Michael. You're in enough trouble as it is; maybe you should just let it go."

"Not while there's even the slightest chance I can do something. So you'd better tell me what your wife looks like. I choose a brunette because I know how you like them." Michael teases Link.

"Funny. Actually she's a blonde; I think she might be half mad. But she's incredibly good at convincing people to do what she wants. She talked the warden into letting her spend the night with me in one of the conjugal rooms."

"That is good. She must be convincing to get the Pope to bend the rules like that." Suddenly Michaels' smile fades. "You said she was blonde. Does she have a tattoo across her lower back of a phoenix?"

"Yeah."

Michael frowned. "Okay, maybe we are in a bit of trouble. The girl pretending to be your wife is the sister of a very bad guy."

"Oh great. What does that mean for us?"

"Hopefully nothing. She's a professional and if everything goes to plan…"

"Nothing has gone to plan so far…"

"Have a little faith, Link."

"That's what she said." Link replies, sounding worried.

"Don't worry. If she's as good as her reputation says she is you could be out of here sooner than we all think."

Lincoln and Michael cross themselves as chapel ends. The guard approaches. "Let's go, Burrows."

Ella sits in her hotel room and hangs up the phone. That reporter was definitely coming in handy. Ella didn't even have to try to convince her that a phone interview was a great idea, as soon as Ella said she couldn't make it to the studio, Samantha had suggested the phone interview herself. It had gone well. Ella cried and sobbed on cue, telling a sad tale of how she had returned to Australia, but had suffered from shortness of breathe that landed her in hospital the day after arriving back home. She was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism a condition common in pregnant women and flyers. The P.E. meant she was bed ridden in hospital, as any sudden movements or changes in position could dislodge the emboli and cause a stroke or heart attack. She was put on blood thinners to treat the P.E., but it caused problems with the pregnancy. The doctors insisted on bed rest until the baby could be safely delivered. Ella described how she had been surrounded by her family who were incredibly supportive but didn't approve of her marriage to Lincoln Burrows. When he didn't arrive on the plane from America she began to worry, and the more she worried, the sicker she became. She spent days on the phone ringing the only phone number she had, trying to find out where he was. After three months, the P.E resolved itself and the doctors allowed her to return home with her family, on strict bed rest. Her family kept trying to get her to forget about the man who had run off with $70,000 dollars, saying he was only after her money. Two months later the stress of the pregnancy and of losing her husband took its toll on Ella's body and she lost the baby. Ella couldn't believe Lincoln was only after her money and after two months of thinking about it, she decided the only way to find out what had happened to Lincoln was to hire a private investigator to go to America. It took the detective a month to prepare to travel and another month to find out what had happened to her husband and where he was. When Ella found out about the death sentence she caught the first plane back to America. It was a typically touching story and Ella knew the reporter was buying it hook, line and sinker. The reporter had offered to set up a call centre where people could show their support by ringing the centre and recording their views on the situation. Of course Ella had gratefully accepted and the reporter had promised to deliver the phone recordings to the Governors office personally and lobby to get a stay of execution.

It had already been a long morning, but it was only 9am. Other than the interview, she had received a subpoena to appear in court at 10am as soon as she arrived at the hotel at six in the morning. Ella dressed quickly and called a Cab. Show time.

Michael sits on the stretcher bed in the infirmary, waiting for his next shot of insulin. Doctor Sara Tancredi enters the room.

"Good morning, Doctor Tancredi." Michael smiles at Sara as she prepares the needle.

"You seem happier today. I heard you sister-in-law turned up last night. I didn't know Lincoln was married."

"Their first wedding anniversary is in two weeks." Michael replied.

"The night nurse saw her leaving this morning. She said she looked young."

"She's twenty six, that's not that young."

"She's a lot younger than Lincoln."

"You look like you disapprove. They love each other, so the age gap doesn't really matter, does it?"

"No. I guess not." Sara checks the vial expiry date and realises her supply of insulin is out of date.

"Sorry Michael, you'll have to come back this afternoon for your shot, I need to get more insulin. So we're all done for now." Sara starts tidying up.

"If you're so curious about her, you can meet her. She's coming to see me; she should be here any minute now."

Sara looks up from her tidying.

"I think I'm pretty busy today." Sara says, looking out the window into the trolley bay full of patients.

"Right." Michael getting up to leave. CO Bellick appears in the doorway.

"Scofield, you have a visitor."

"I thought you weren't available for this job." Michael asks as he sits at the table in the visitation room.

"I decided I needed a vacation and what better way to spend it." Ella replies with a cheeky grin. "I heard someone relieved you of a few of your toes."

"Yeah. Everyday is a new surprise in here."

"You know I can organise protection for you, all you have to do is ask."

"People will get suspicious if I'm suddenly under the protection of the Raven."

"No-one asks too many questions when my brother is involved. Anyway the offer is there if you need it."

"Thanks, but I'm pretty safe at the moment."

"You think so, do you? That CO Bellick isn't too fond of you."

"He's just a big pussycat." Michael smiles at Ella, who frowns.

"He could be a problem. I just hope you have someone watching your back in here. You'll never get out alive if you get Bellick off side."

"Too late for that. My cellmate's a good guy…"

"Yeah, such a good guy that he's in prison, Michael."

"I'm in prison too."

"Yeah but you put yourself here on purpose, there's a difference. How's Lincoln holding up this morning?"

"He's finding it hard to keep his story straight. And he's worried his new wife's nuts."

"I have a lot of money, so I'm not crazy, just eccentric." Ella jokes.

"How was court?"

"It went well. I have paid a visit to your lawyer friend, Veronica Donovan to see if she can't get this new stuff entered as evidence. She's at the courthouse now. I made sure she got there safely. No worries. You know I still can't work out exactly how you talked me into doing this job for free."

"The same way you talked the Pope into letting you spend the night."

"I guess we're both good."

"I think you might be better. I'll see you tomorrow if everything works."

"It will. I've never failed a mission so far and I won't fail this one."

Ella is escorted out of the visitation room by CO Bellick.

"The Warden would like to see you. This way, please."

"Okay. Do you know what about?"

"No, I'm sorry." They walk down the corridor in silence for a few moments.

"Mrs Burrows, can I ask you a personal question?" Bellick asks.

"Please, call me Ella. Yes, you can ask me a personal question, on the condition that I can ask you one in return." Ella replies looking down at the floor in front of her. She watches Bellicks' expression out of the corner of her eye, figuring out how to play him. She sees him sneak a quick glance, looking her up and down, and knows he's attracted to her. His eyes give away who he wants to see- a sweet innocent girl that needs protecting. So submissive and timid is his thing. No problem.

"How old are you?"

"How old do you think I am?" She asks as meekly as she can.

"You look no more than twenty, I'd guess."

"Thank you for the compliment. But sadly I'm a bit older than that. I'm twenty six." They arrive at a locked gate; Bellick opens the gate and holds it open for her to walk through. She looks into his eyes and holds his gaze for a second before looking down at the ground again.

"You're quite a lot younger than your husband. Can I be frank with you?" She nods as she walks through the gate, standing close to him as he locks it behind himself.

"You don't seem to be Burrows type?" He says as he turns to face her, obviously enjoying the closeness.

At the other end of the short passage a CO enters with a prisoner in handcuffs. They begin to walk again.

"What do you think is Lincolns' type?" Ella asks.

"Someone a bit wilder." Bellick replies. They walk past the guard and the prisoner and Ella seizes the moment. She moves so close to Bellick that she lightly brushes against his arm; her eyes fixed on the prisoners handcuffs as he passes. Bellick looks down at her, interpreting her movements as fear, and instinctively changes his posture to appear larger, stronger, lifting his chest and pushing his shoulders back.

"You don't need to be worried, Ella. You're safe with me. I'll make sure you get to the Wardens office." Ella smiles slightly, her body language still portraying fear. She knows that she has Bellick where she wants him.

"Thank you. Everyone here has been so kind. I don't know how I can repay you all."

"No need, it's our job and personally my pleasure." Bellick smiles, standing tall. They passed through another gate and arrived outside the Wardens' office. Bellick paused at the door and turned to Ella.

"You said you wanted to ask me a personal question?"

"Yes. I would like to repay your kindness, so I was wondering, what's your favourite flavour muffin?"

Ella waits in the Warden's office. The Warden enters the room from behind her and moves to sit behind his desk.

"Mrs Beaumont-Burrows, thank you for coming to see me. I know you must be anxious to see your husband again."

Ella nods looking worried.

"I have just received a phone call from the Governors office. Apparently the courts have made a decision regarding your plea this morning. It seems you have convinced them to push back the execution for one month, to allow your legal team time to put together a case with the new evidence you have provided."

Ella smiles as the Warden delivers the news, but the Warden looks angry.

"I have been instructed that you be allowed to spend as much time with your husband as you would like during this extended period. I have also been told that because Burrows already spends most of his time removed from the general population that you may spend that time with him. Which means you will be able to see him while he is in his cell outside normal visitation hours. I'm not sure how you managed to convince them to let you have almost free reign in here, Mrs Beaumont-Burrows, but I must warn you that it is very dangerous inside these walls, and no matter how much security we provide you, you could still get hurt."

"I understand the dangers, and I am willing to sign whatever paperwork you require alleviating you of all responsibility if I get injured by a prisoner while on the premises. I know my presence will be an inconvenience for you and your staff but I am willing to do whatever it takes to keep disruptions to a minimum and to keep things as simple as possible."

"If that were true, you wouldn't have petitioned the court for extended visitation rights. What you have done has set a very dangerous precedent and will cause enormous disruptions to the daily running of this facility." The Wardens growls, his steely eyes hardening and his voice becoming louder. Ella looks away, acting hurt and defeated, tears welling in her eyes. The warden backs off and sighs.

"I'm sorry to be so blunt, Mrs Beaumont-Burrows, but I really can't see a way that this will work."

"Maybe we could work out something together that reduces the impact my presence will have, but perhaps we should wait until this afternoon to discuss it, as I think we both need some time to think things over." Ella replies blinking away her tears, appearing to regain her composure.

"Yes, that's probably the best thing. I will have CO Bellick escort you to see your husband in his cell, if I could ask you to wait in the waiting room, I think there is someone there who would like to hear the good news from you."

"Thank you."

Ella steps into the waiting room and looks around. Out of the corner of her eye she can see Michael sitting in handcuffs to her left; there is no one else in the room. She sits beside him, folds her hands together in her lap and leans across, gently nudging him with her shoulder.

"Fancy seeing you here?" She whispers.

"How have you been, Ella? It seems like we haven't spoken in years."

"I'm good thank you, and you?"

"Couldn't be better." Michael replies lifting his handcuffed hands slightly, smiling. "Are you sure you're alright, I heard yelling inside."

"I seem to have that effect on people sometimes, though usually it's accompanied by gunshots. No, really, I'm fine, just a little shaken. The Warden has the ability to make you feel like a naughty child, doesn't he?" She laughs. "Have you heard to good news?"

"How long have we got?" Michael enquires. Ella unfolds one finger and mouths the word "One".

"One what?" Michael asks his heart pounding.

"Month."

"I could kiss you."

"And I might let you, if you weren't my husbands' brother." She smiles and winks, then becomes serious. "It's longer than we estimated, but I have a suspicion that it's more for the baddies to find a way to mess with my evidence, than for us."

"Do you really think they had something to do with it? If they're interesting in damaging the evidence, they may be interesting in damaging your testimony. You could be in harms way, Ella."

"Your concern would be touching, if it were based solely on concern for me. Don't worry. As you are well aware, I can handle myself. I will be there to testify for your brother."

"I'm serious. They could come after you."

"You know my reputation, don't you?" Ella grins. "Think of me as a Goddess who walks amongst men. I'm untouchable."

"I bet a bullet could touch you."

"Morbid much?" Ella sighs obviously not impressed.

The door across the room opens and CO Bellick walks into the room.

"Here's my ride. See you later, brother-in-law." She stands and steps in front of Michael, bends down and kisses him on the forehead. As she does she whispers "check this out." She turn and smiles sweetly at CO Bellick, who all but blushes. She turns back to wave, pulls an "am I good or what?" face at Michael and sticks out her tongue at him.

"Bye Ella." Michael replies trying hard not to smile.

"I have just spoken to the Warden and he has instructed me to take you to see Burrows in his cell. I must warn you it may be unsettling for you down there." Bellick warns Ella.

"I'll be okay."

"You look a bit pale, are you feeling alright? I was walking past a few minutes ago and heard the Warden yelling."

"Just a little shaken. Not use to people yelling at me, I guess." Ella pulls her arms around herself, looking small.

"His barks bigger than his bite, don't worry about him."

"Really? He seemed pretty angry."

"Yeah, don't worry about it; he's probably over it already." Bellick says giving Ella a reassuring smile as they pass through a gate and head down a dark metal staircase.

"Lincolns' cell, it's down here? But it's so dark." Ella moves closer to Bellick.

"All death row cells are located in the sub-basement in isolation."

"Why are they isolated?" Ella asks pretending not to know the answer.

"When a prisoner knows they are going to die, they will get in fights and hurt other prisoners, sometimes even hurt themselves, because they figure they have nothing to lose."

"That's awful." They walk through another gate and stop at a metal door with a slot running horizontally halfway up. There is a guard standing to the left of the door.

"This is it. Chuck open the door."

The guard steps in front of the door and begins to fiddle with his keys.

"Now Lincoln, you have to promise to behave, no trouble now."

"What do you want now? Can't you leave me in peace?" Lincoln's sad voice echoes from inside the room.

"We have a treat for you. We have brought your wife to see you. Now do you promise to be good?" Chuck asks again.

"Yes, I promise. Ella?"

Bellick nods to Ella signalling for her to speak.

"Hi Link, it's me."

Sounds of movement resonate from behind the door as Lincoln moves to look out the door through the slot. Ella sees his eyes in the darkness and bends sideways so he can see her face. She waves.

"Lincoln, I need you to stand against the back wall until the door is closed again, do you understand?" Ella observes the guards behaviour, seeing how nervous he is at the thought of opening the door.

"Yes, Sir."

More sounds of movement originate from behind the door as Lincoln takes position at the back of his cell. The guard opens the door and steps aside to allow Ella to enter. Ella walks forward but stops in the doorway, stretching her fingers at her sides.

"We'll be right outside if you need us, Ella." Bellick says.

She takes a deep breathe before stepping into the middle of the room and immediately the guard closes and locks the door behind her.

"Hey." Link says as he moves towards her.

"Hey yourself." She looks around. "So, this is your cell. It's a real fixer-upper." Her voice sounds suddenly breathless and she closes her eyes.

"Ella? Are you okay?" Lincoln suddenly becomes concerned. Ella swallows hard.

"The walls are the same…" Her voice trails off into a whisper. She says something but at first Lincoln cannot hear. She repeats herself and it becomes clearer.

"Open the door." She whispers as she moves to the door and leans her head against it. "Lincoln, open the door." She speaks louder as she begins to bang on the door with an open palm.

"Open the door." She pounds on the door with her fists, her breathing short and erratic. Lincoln steps back against the wall.

"Ella what's wrong?" Ella turns to him her eyes unfocussed, pure fear covers every inch of her face. She looks at the wall behind Lincoln.

"The walls are the same…" She gasps for breathe. She turns back to the door and screams. "Open the door!"

Lincoln hears the guards rush over and keys jingle as they try to get the door unlocked. Finally after what seems like an eternity to Ella the door opens and she rushes out. She heads to the first gate and begins to pull at the bars, trying to open it. Bellick rushes towards her. She spins around.

"I need to get outside, now!" Her chest heaves and her breathing becomes faster still. As Bellick reaches out to touch her, everything blurs.

"Bugger." She sighs and crashes to the floor.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Sucre hurries across the yard towards Michael.

"Hey Fish. I've just hear something about Lincoln's wife."

"Oh yes, and what's that?" Michael feigns disinterest.

"I was over near the bleachers and heard Franklin talking. He said he was in the infirmary an hour ago, and saw the guards carry in this hot blonde girl. He overheard Bellick say it was Lincolns' wife."

"Was she hurt?" Michael suddenly looks worried.

"Don't know, Franklin said the guards were talking about her freaking out in the dungeon and fainting or something. You never said Link was married."

"I've got to make sure she's alright. I'm due to go for my insulin shot in five minutes." Michael starts walking towards to gate.

"Michael, what was she doing in the dungeon?" Sucre asks chasing after him.

"I'm not sure."

They arrive at the gate where a guard is waiting.

"On time today, Scofield."

"Yes, sir. Didn't want to hold the doctor up."

"I'm sure. Then let's go."

"Where do you want him, Doc?" The guard asks as they arrive in the trolley bay.

"Um, he can go inside. Put him on the other trolley." Sara replies.

Michael enters the infirmary and sees an unconscious Ella lying on one of the beds with a cut on her head and an oxygen mask on her face. Sara enters the room and starts preparing the blood glucose test kit.

"What's happened to her?" Michael asks looking concerned.

"She had some kind of panic attack and hit her head when she fainted. She'll be alright. She woke up about an hour ago said something about walls and passed out again. I've given her a mild sedative. She should wake up anytime now."

A groan comes from the other bed.

"The walls are the same…" Ella whispers, obviously disorientated.

"That's what she said before; do you know what it means?" Sara asks Michael as she walks over and starts to examine Ella.

"No. I'm sorry, I have no idea."

"What? I feel funny." Ella says.

"Ella I'm Doctor Sara Tancredi. You fainted so I have given you a mild sedative to help you keep calm. You're in the Fox River prison infirmary. Do you know what day it is?"

"You doped me." Ella replies pushing the pen light away from her eyes and removing the mask. "What? I never know what day it is. What did you give me exactly, Doctor Red?" Ella her mind fuzzy, and her head feeling full of cotton wool.

"Just a type of Benzo."

"What dosage? What time?" Ella asks sitting up. Sara looks a little unsure.

"To be exact 0.5ml diluted to 5ml at 2pm. Why?" Sara quizzes Ella who tries to stand up.

"What time is it?"

"Its 4pm. You've been unconscious for about two hours." Ella looks out the window.

"Nice view." She stands up and starts to walk over to the window, but the drip in her hand pulls tight. She sees a portable drip stand, removes the bag of saline from the stand on the bed, hooks it onto the portable one and starts to walk around the room.

"You're coming with me, skinny."

Sara watches her for a moment then turns to Michael.

"Is she usually like this?"

"When she's drunk." Michael laughs.

"Shut up." Ella says from near the drug cupboards. Sara pricks Michael's finger and performs the blood glucose test.

"Should she be walking around?" Michael asks.

"It'll help get the sedative out of her system."

Ella moves along reading the labels inside the drug cupboard, then stops and looks around. Sara has her back to Ella and Michael is watching her. Ella removes a hair pin from her hair, quietly snaps it in two and jams it into the lock on the cupboard. She reaches inside the cupboard and removes a small vial from the back of the cupboard. She takes a 23 gauge needle and a 5ml syringe from the counter and draws up 1ml from the bottle. She picks up some saline and dilutes the syringe to 5mls. Michael stares at her in horror. Ella puts her finger to her lips indicating for Michael to be quiet and pushes the needle into her arm. She puts the vial back, quietly shuts the cupboard and grabs syringe and empty saline container. Sara turns around and to check on Ella for a second before going back to preparing Michaels insulin shot. Ella wanders past a sharps bin and drops the syringe and saline container into it, then returns to the bed past the trolley Sara is using.

"Sorry Michael, I could have sworn I had some tape around here somewhere. I'll be just one minute." Sara says leaving the room.

"Pass me a cotton wool ball, please." Ella asks Michael.

"Are you nuts?" He passes the ball over as she unwinds the tape and tapes the cotton wool to her arm.

"Nope, just don't like to be drugged when I'm on a job. You never know what I'll say. Put this back under that bandage."

"What did you give yourself?"

"It's only painkiller. It counteracts the benzo she gave me, and helps with my headache."

"You'll get us in trouble."

"I don't think so, I never get caught." Ella winks at Michael as Sara enters the room.

"Ella, would you like something for your head? It must hurt."

No thank you, Doctor. It doesn't hurt as much as you would think."

"It seems like the sedative is wearing off."

"Yes it is."

Sara moves a bandage on the trolley and sighs.

"There's that tape. I swear some days I'd lose my head if it wasn't screwed on."

"You look tired." Lincoln says and yawns

"Thanks for the compliment, sweet-cheeks. You don't look so hot either. Actually that's a lie, you are pretty hot, tired or not." Ella winks at Lincoln from across the table in the visitation room. "Why are you so sleepy?"

"I didn't sleep last night. When I saw you yesterday…"

"Yeah, sorry about that. It seems I was suffering from some minor technical difficulties yesterday."

"I wouldn't call having a panic attack and fainting minor. Why did you come down to my cell if you're claustrophobic?"

"I'm not. I mean I never have been before. And it seems to be only your cell that brings it on. Something happened and I couldn't control it, but now I know I have this thing I can get rid of it."

"Just like that."

"Why not? A bit of meditation, a bit of de-compartmentalising and dealing and I should be right as rain. Mind over matter as they say. I just need to convince the Warden to let me go back down there."

"Why would you want to go back? Won't you freak out again?"

"I need to go back to face the thing that caused the problem, I'm hoping I will be prepared enough to control myself and not flip out again. My access to your cell is pivotal to the plan. If I can't get down there we are screwed."

"I thought the plan was to use the new evidence."

"That's the smoke and mirrors. The hand that distracts the punters at a dodgy magic show. No the real plan is so much more fun."

Lincoln goes quiet.

"Hold on, how do you know its only my cell that causes you to panic?"

"I locked myself in a closet last night."

"Are you serious?" Lincoln asks looking at Ella like she's insane.

"I'm kidding, Link." She laughs. "I can see I'm going to have my work cut out for me."

"What do you mean?"

"Its going to be a big job teaching you to lighten up."

"I'm light enough, thanks."

"Denial just makes the road to jocularity that much harder. Try not to resist. You and I are going to have so much fun."

Lincoln looks worried.

"I'm fine."

"Yes, but your not funny. My husband has to make me laugh. No Aussie chick would be caught dead married to an unfunny guy. It's one of the unwritten laws of my people. That and drink beer. But for now I have an audience with the Pope about yesterday's meltdown. I'll see you this arvo. Bye sweetheart." Ella stands and turns to leave.

"Ella."

"Yes."

"Sometimes when you speak I have no idea what you're saying." Ella smiles and laughs.

"It's probably less painful that way." She waves goodbye and heads off to see the Warden.

"How are you feeling Ella?" The Warden asks.

"I'm fine, maybe a little tired." Ella replies.

"I know you want to be with Lincoln, Ella, but I don't think it's a good idea for you to return to his cell. I'm concerned for your safety, you understand."

"Thank you for your concern, but it would be worse for me if I didn't go back. If the appeal fails, I can't allow my husband to spend his last days alone because I was afraid. I couldn't live with myself."

"You would be putting yourself in a dangerous, stressful situation. It could jeopardise your health."

"Isn't there someone you love so much you would risk your life for them?" Ella asks looking into the Wardens' eyes. The Warden looks back, not knowing what to say, of course there was. Ella continues.

"Besides it would be just as much for me as it would be for him."

"What do you mean?"

"I talked to a psychiatrist friend of mine last night about what happened and she said that if I did nothing to resolve the issues that caused the claustrophobic episode it could get very serious. If I can face what triggered the episode, and overcome my fear I will never have to go through something like that again. It was terrifying and I if I cannot face that fear now, how will I face it later when it takes over my life. I don't want to live with this fear when I am already afraid of so much. All I'm asking for is one afternoon to face my fear. If I don't beat this then I will have give up my right to extended visitation in Lincolns' cell."

This is exactly what the Warden wants and he wonders if he could be so ruthless as to allow this girl to endanger herself to get his way.

"I'm not sure. When would you want to do this?" He knows if she tries to do this today in all probability she will fail.

"As soon as you can arrange it."

"I will have an officer escort you downstairs immediately."

"Now?" Ella looks uncertain.

"You said as soon as possible, and this will be the only time I can arrange this for you. If you don't want to…"

"No…Its fine. Good. Thank you." Ella knows she has to find the strength to fight her panic now or they can all kiss the plan goodbye.

"Okay Lincoln, we are gonna try this again. Stand at the back of the room until the door is closed." The guard orders Lincoln who moves to the back of the room. The guard unlocks the door and steps aside. Ella moves to the doorway and looks inside. Panic starts to rise and her breathing becomes shallow. She closes her eyes and steps into the centre of the room.

"Close it." She says with her eyes still closed.

The guard closes the door quietly and locks it.

"Ella…" Lincoln begins, but Ella moves her finger to her lips signalling him to be quiet.

She turns her back on him, and with her eyes still shut sits cross legged on the cement floor. She places her hands palm up on her knees and concentrates hard on controlling her breathing.

Lincoln waits, still standing against the wall. Fifteen minutes pass and Ella doesn't move. Lincoln decides he needs to see her face. The room is so small that Lincoln has to climb over the bed to get in front of Ella. She feels him moving over the bed and hears his feet as he stands in front of her. He sees her lips moving and tears streaming down her face. He stands there watching her, wondering what she is says. The guard taps on the door.

"Everything alright in there?"

"I think she's meditating or something." Replies Link uncertainly.

He stands and watches her and notices the tears stop. More time passes in silence. A sudden rush of air against Ella's face tells her Link has moved again. She opens her eyes for the first time and looks straight into Lincoln's eyes as he sits cross legged in front of her.

"Hey." She says.

"Hey yourself." Link replies softly, placing his hands in her upturned palms.

"Tell me a joke."

"I can't think of any."

"Okay, I'll tell you one. What did the volcano say to the coconut tree?"

"I don't know. What?"

"Hold onto your nuts this is no ordinary blow job."

From outside the room they hear the guard stifle a giggle. They both smile.

"Thought of one yet?"

"No."

"That was my best material it only gets worse from here on in." Ella warns Link before continuing. "What has six legs and walks around that paddock in circles?"

"What?"

"A ram doing a Ewie." Another chuckle sounds from outside the door.

"That was terrible."

"I told you I used up my best material. At least our chaperone likes my jokes."

After a moment Lincoln speaks.

"I can't think of any jokes but I have a riddle."

"Let's hear it then."

"What is something that you have but cannot share and if you share it you do not have it?"

Ella thinks for a moment.

"It's a secret."

"Very good."

"Okay here's a real childhood one." Ella holds Links' hand and strokes his palm with her index finger.

"What are you doing?" Link asks suspiciously.

"Its part of the joke. Ready?"

"Okay." Link replies looking hesitant.

"I am an alien. On my planet the sky is green. What colour is the sky on your planet?" She asks still stroking Links' palm.

"Blue."

"On my planet our grass is red and our water is purple. What colour is your grass?"

"Green"

"Do you know how we have sex on my planet?" Ella asks still gently stroking Links' palm with her finger.

"No. How?" Link asks. Ella raised her eyebrows, smiles and looks down at their hands. After a second Link cries out and pulls his hand away.

"That is so juvenile." He laughs.

"Made you laugh though."

"Yes you did." He looks into her eyes. "You know your eyes have yellow flecks around your pupil. It looks like a solar eclipse in a grey blue sky."

Ella looks at Lincoln.

"What?" He asks.

She leans forward and gently presses her lips to his. She presses firmer and kisses him passionately, running her hand up his neck and the back of his head. Finally she pulls away and they look at each other for a long time before Lincoln breaks the silence.

"I've thought of a joke."

"Okay, go for it."

"Every Friday night a police officer sits outside a bar in his police car, waiting to book people for drink driving. At ten o'clock, a man stumbles out of the bar, his shirt untucked, swaying as he walks to the car park. The policeman watches him as he fumbles in his pocket and pulls out a set of keys. The man walks to a car and drops the keys, swears as he picks them up and tries them in the lock on the closest car door. He swears some more then stumbles towards the next car. After trying his keys in five cars, he finally opens his car and falls into the driver's seat. The officer thinks he has hit the jackpot and decides he really wants to catch this guy drink-driving to teach him a lesson, so he waits. The man puts the keys in the ignition and turns on and off the windscreen wipers, the indicators and the stereo several times before he gets the engine started. Some people start to leave the bar in groups of four or five, get into their cars and leave, but the police officer waits. The man does a six point turn on the spot to turn his car around before slowly creeping out of the car park and driving at ten miles per hour down the street. The police officer follows him for about five hundred yards before he decides its time to pull this guy over. He flashes his lights and the man pulls over to the side of the road. The officer taps on the window and the man winds it down.

'Good evening sir, this is a random breathe test. If you could blow into this tester until I say stop.'

'No p-p-problem offiscer.' The man stammers and blows into the breathe tester. The police officer cannot believe his eyes as the readout is 0.0. He tests the man again but gets the same result.

'Could you tell me how much you have had to drink tonight sir?' The police officer asks.

'Nothing, officer.' The man says speaking clear as a bell. 'I'm the designated drunk.'"

Ella laughs loudly.

"That is a great joke. So you are funny after all. I think we should probably not sit on the floor anymore, my arse is getting sore and my mother always warned me not to sit on concrete."

"Why not?"

"She said I'd get piles if I did."

"In that case let's sit on the bed from now on." Lincoln says, laughing as he stands and offers a hand to help Ella up.


	4. Chapter 4 The greatest View

The Warden paces back and forth behind his desk as a guard updates him on the situation.

"She's been in there for three hours now, and all you can tell me is that they were laughing?"

"I'm sorry sir, but all I know is that Lincoln thought she was meditating for about half and hour, then they started telling each other jokes and then they started talking quietly to each other. Nothing else has happened."

"Thank you, Chuck. You can go home now." Dishearten, the warden waves Chuck out of the room and sits in his leather chair. He reflects on the events of the past few days and his suspicions about Mrs Ella Beaumont-Burrows. Her claustrophobia couldn't possibly be a con because she gained nothing from it, so was it real? If it was, how did she just overcome it like that? The warden decides there is more to this young woman than he can see and plans to keep a closer eye on her starting now. He leaves his office and heads down to Burrow's cell. He has the night guard open the door and steps inside.

Ella is sitting on the bed with her back against the wall with Burrows head resting in her lap. She gently strokes his short hair as he snores quietly. She smiles as the warden enters the cell and he can see she has not overcome her problem. Her eyes look tired and her cheeks are pale and grey. The warden looks at his watch.

"What time is it?" Ella whispers.

"A quarter to seven."

"Damn, I'm late. Could you give me a minute to say goodbye?"

"Certainly." The warden replies and leaves the cell. Ella gently strokes Link's cheek.

"Lincoln, wake up."

Lincoln opens his eyes and after a moment of disorientation he sits up and yawns.

"What is it?"

"I have to go; there are some errands I need to run before tomorrow. I think you need to speak to LJ and Veronica about me. I have only told them I am a friend of yours and they need to know the story. I'll call by and organise for them to come for a visitation tomorrow morning. Would you like me to be there?"

"It would probably be better if you were. When you say they need to know the story you mean about our marriage and not the other stuff, right?" Link asks, obviously concerned about how this information will affect his relationships.

"Yes. It will be hard for LJ to accept but he will forgive you, Veronica may be a bit tougher. But you know her and I trust you can handle her. I better go."

Ella stands and kisses Lincoln on the forehead.

"It's for the best. I'll see you tomorrow. Try to get some sleep." Ella waves and knocks on the cell door. The guard opens it, and as she leaves Lincoln sees the warden waiting outside the room.

"I will escort you out, Mrs Beaumont-Burrows."

"Thank you, Warden."

As they climb the stairs the warden notices Ella looking unwell. They reach the top of the stairs and pass through three gates before Ella speaks.

"Is there a bathroom nearby?"

"Yes, of course. Up ahead at the end of the corridor; last door on the left." The warden directs Ella, who rushes off and bursts through the door. The warden hears her throwing up from outside the door and realises how hard it must have been for her to stay in the cell all afternoon. He hears to tap running and pushes the door open slightly.

"Are you alright, Ella?" He asks, concerned.

"Yes, thank you." Ella replies as she splashes water on her face and steadies herself with the sink. She walks out of the bathroom and as the warden looks at her his suspicions fade away. He can see now she was not faking her claustrophobia and she has not overcome it. A sudden wave of pity overcomes him and he finds himself speaking without thinking.

"Ella, I can see the toll today has taken on you and I feel terrible about putting you in that position. If it would be easier, I can arrange for you to spend some time with your husband in the isolated exercise yard during the day, so you don't have to go into the cells. Of course sometimes the cell visits will be your only option…"

"Thank you for the offer, Warden Pope, but I know my presence here is an imposition for you…"

"No please Ella, don't be concerned with that, I'm sorry I ever said that to you. In fact, a few visits in the yard would fit in better with the day to day schedule for our prisoners and you would not need to tie up a guard as there are patrols stationed around the yard at all times. So it suits us both." The warden notices her hesitation. "At least think about my offer."

"I will." Ella adds the exercise yard to her mental list of places she has access to, thinking every time God closes a cell door he opens a window with a perfect view of the exercise yard.

Its pitch black by the time Ella arrives in the alley. She leans against the hood of her car and stamps her feet to keep out the creeping damp of the night while she watches the reverse lights of a black SUV come towards her. A stocky man jumps out of the drivers seat and opens the boot.

"Jimmy, how's the family?" Ella greets the man.

"No offence, Oz, but I just want to get this done." Jimmy looks around nervously.

"No offence taken. You seem a little jumpy tonight."

"You tend to have that effect on people. Please Oz I don't want any trouble. Let's just do this thing like civilised people and go home to bed."

"What makes you think I wouldn't be civilised, Jimmy?"

"Are we going to do this thing?" Jimmy insists.

"Answer the question and then we'll deal."

Jimmy reluctantly answers. "I think that you might not be civilised because last time one of my guys came back from a deal with you he was missing an arm and was beaten half to death. Now can we do this?"

"Sure. Show me the merchandise." As Jimmy rummages in the boot Ella continues to talk. "You can't prove that was me. Besides, I only did that because he was trying to up the price from what we had already agreed on, and it was only half an arm, which I was kind enough to mail back to him, remember."

Jimmy shudders. "I remember. I was able to get three light weight Kevlar vests as you requested. I had these throwing knives imported from Germany and there are two Desert Eagles, with two thousand rounds a piece. All untraceable."

Ella examines one of the knives in a gloved hand for weighting, throwing it into a nearby factory wall. She walks over, wrenches it free and returns it to the set.

"Wrap it up. Nice job, Jimmy. I really like these knives. And to get this gear so promptly too. I think you deserve a bonus."

"No really, the agreed price is fine, Oz." Jimmy says handing over the bundle of weapons.

"A good job deserves a reward." Ella hands a black bag to Jimmy who puts it in the boot. "Aren't you going to count it?"

"I trust you."

"Really? Or are you just afraid of me?" She laughs. "I'll see you Jimmy." Ella returns to her car and drives past the SUV. Once her lights are in the distance another man steps out of the SUV.

"Jesus Jimmy I think you're lucky to get away with your life."

"Tell me about it."

She's just as likely to cut your throat as to pay you." The man says looking down at his missing arm.

"That's not quite true. She always pays, whether she leaves you alive to spend it is another story."


	5. Chapter 5: Welcome to the Family

"Veronica, its Ella, Lincoln and Michaels' friend. I know it's late. Could you open the door."

"Sure. Just give me a minute."

Veronica rushes over and shakes LJ awake.

"Go to the bedroom."

LJ grumbles, gets off the couch and heads to the bedroom. Nick walks out of the bathroom drying his hair with a towel.

"What's wrong?" He asks seeing Veronica's expression.

"She's outside. That girl- Ella. I don't trust her. I don't think we should let her in."

"She brought us evidence that may get Lincoln out of prison, I honestly think she's on our side."

Veronica hesitates then heads over to open the door.

"Hi." Ella says as she walks past Veronica holding a black bundle in her arms and wearing a backpack on her back. "Lincoln needs to speak to you tomorrow morning. I have already arranged for the three of us to see him."

"What does he need to see us for?" Nick asks.

"Not you. Just Veronica, LJ and myself. It's personal."

"What makes you think it's safe for LJ to go to the prison?" Veronica asks.

"What makes you think you're the ones keeping him safe here?" Ella replies.

"He's not here." Nick answers.

"Bullshit." Ella Laughs. "You are both really bad liars. And if you think I'm the only one who knows he's here your more foolish than I gave you credit for. I have something for you." Ella unravels the bundle to reveal three black vests. "A gift from me to you. All three of you should wear these under your clothes at all times. I have protective details surrounding your apartment and trailing you, but someone could get a lucky shot off and a bruise is better than a bullet wound, wouldn't you agree, Nick."

"Who are you?" Veronica asks.

"I'm a friend. Look, Lincoln really needs to see his son and you will be safe, I promise."

"So what are the vests for?" Nick retorts.

"Extra precautions. It's the seven P's." Veronica and Nick look quizzically at Ella. "Proper prior preparation prevents piss poor performance. I don't intend to let anyone get shot on my watch, it would reflect badly on my performance. Here's the itinerary for your trip to the prison tomorrow. Don't be late."

"I don't think it's safe…" Veronica starts but is interrupted as Ella sighs and rolls her eyes, then suddenly becomes serious.

"I don't care." Ella snaps, then seeing the expression on their faces she continues. "I'm sorry, its been a long day. I have another errand to run and I need somewhere to get changed, so why don't the three of you talk it over and I'll borrow your bathroom for a half an hour." Before either of them have a chance to protest she walks into the bathroom and closes the door.

"It's been two hours, do you think we should knock. I really need to go." LJ says standing by the bathroom door. Veronica shakes her head and continues talking.

"So it's decided then. LJ and I will go to the prison tomorrow."

"Great." Ella says as she strolls out of the bathroom. "How do I look?" She asks LJ as she does a little spin.

"Uh…Good." LJ replies staring at Ella.

"Just good. Oh well, pink isn't really my colour." Ella jokes as she stuffs a black towel into her backpack. LJ continues to stare at Ella as she moves into the kitchenette and helps herself to a glass of water.

"I thought you said you had an errand to run?" Veronica snaps, noticing Nick's gaze follow Ella around the apartment. "What are you a stripper?" She quips staring at Ella's outfit of knee-high boots, fishnet stockings, a mini skirt and a backless pink top.

"Cute." Ella retorts, obviously annoyed by Veronica's comment. "No I am definitely not a stripper, I am meeting someone at a club near here, and I'm late."

Ella's expression softens as she looks at LJ. "Get some sleep it's an early start tomorrow and don't forget to wear the vests." Ella says as she walks out the door, leaving Veronica irritated and Nick and LJ staring at the door as it closes behind her.

"Who is she?" Nick asks.

"I don't know, but I think I should go to the prison tomorrow and find out from someone who would know." Veronica says.

"What about LJ?"

"I want to see my dad." LJ interjects. Nick continues.

"She knew he was here and I think if she wanted to hurt him she could have."

Veronica shrugs. "Then we both go tomorrow."

Ella smiles as she looks through the glass window in the door to the visitation room and see Lincoln nervously twisting his hands together. She opens the door and walks across the room to the table where Lincoln sits. He is so preoccupied that he doesn't even notice her until she is standing before him.

"Nervous?"

"Can you tell?" Lincoln replies.

"Kinda." Lincoln stands and Ella wraps her arms around him and kisses him. "Don't be. I saw LJ last night and he really wants to see you." She reassures him as she takes a seat next to him.

"How was he?" Lincoln asks.

"See for yourself." Ella points towards the door as Veronica and LJ are escorted into the room by a guard. As they walk over and stand on the opposite side of the table, Lincoln stands to greet them.

"Sit down, Burrows." A guard barks from across the room. Reluctantly he sits, putting his hands in his lap as Veronica and LJ take a seat opposite him. Lincoln cannot take his eyes off LJ.

"How are you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, dad. I'm fine." LJ replies. Ella notices the nervous tension between the Lincoln and his son and puts a reassuring hand on Lincoln's hands. He intertwines his fingers in hers and she squeezes his hand gently for a moment. Veronica looks at Lincolns face and can tell there is something bothering him.

"Hi Lincoln."

"Hi." Lincoln replies not knowing how to begin to tell them about Ella.

"It's good to see you. How have they been treating you?"

"Fine. I'm fine."

Veronica knows there is something Lincoln needs to tell them so she prompts him.

"I took a big risk bringing LJ here…"

"I know." Lincoln interrupts. "There's something I needed to tell you both and I wanted to do it face to face. You've both met Ella." He gives Ella a sideways glance.

"Hi LJ. Veronica." Ella says.

"Hi." LJ replies but Veronica ignores her, instead she presses Lincoln further.

"Lincoln, what is this about?"

"Um…I wanted to tell you both…" Lincoln pauses and Ella prompts him to continue with a slight squeeze of his hand under the table. "Uh… This is Ella. My wife."

LJ seems suddenly hurt and confused, and Veronica becomes angry.

"Your what?" She hisses.

"My wife." Lincoln repeats, his hand tightening around Ella's. She looks at his face and can see he is struggling to cope.

"This girl is your wife? How old is she? Nineteen?" Veronica continues her voice getting louder. Ella squeezes Link's hand and lets go.

"Um, maybe LJ and I should go get a soda and leave you to talk for five minutes." Ella stands. "Come on LJ."

"No, he's not going anywhere with you!"

"I really think you both need some time alone to talk. We'll be right outside." Ella graciously replies, then bends down, kisses Link on the top of his head and looks at the stunned LJ. "Come on, Poppet, I'll shout you a soda." She says as she gently pulls LJ up by the elbow and leads him from the table.

"It's okay. I'll see you in a few minutes." Lincoln reassures LJ as they walk away. As they leave the room they hear Veronica continue.

"Who is that girl? You just let her go off with LJ, just like that." The door closes behind them and they can no longer hear Veronica's ranting. They head to the end of the corridor where a vending machine stands.

"So what's your fancy?" Ella says, pulling a huge role of notes from her pocket.

"What?" LJ asks looking back towards the door.

"What would you like? My shout."

"Um… Cola." Ella feeds a note into the machine, selects a cola, collects it and gently pushes it into LJ's hand, snapping him back to attention. She gets a raspberry soda for herself and sits on the concrete besides the machine, facing the door at the far end of the corridor. She pats the spot next to her, indicating for LJ to sit.

"Veronica looks pissed." She says to LJ as he moves to sit next to her.

"Yeah. Are you really my dad's wife?" LJ asks in disbelief.

"Yeah. I know it's weird and a big shock." She pauses. "Look, I'm not one to beat around the bush, so let's get through the hard stuff."

LJ nods. "Okay."

"Okay. First I don't want to replace your mum. I'm not exactly a good role model and I think I am far too young to be a mum. Plus I think Veronica will do fine filling that position." Ella smiles, and LJ returns a weak grin. "This isn't exactly easy for me either, it's a complicated situation. The only thing I know for sure is that we all care for your dad and want to see him free."

LJ doesn't say anything as he stares at the floor in front of him.

"How long have you been married?" LJ asks as he starts to wrap his head around it. "Where have you been all this time?" He asks, his voice giving away his building anger.

"We were married nearly a year ago. I was in Australia. I was very sick and didn't know what had happened to your dad until a few weeks ago." Ella pauses again and looks at the pain on LJ's face. "I think maybe you should hear this from your dad when we go back inside."

They sit drinking their soda in silence for a few minutes, each seeming lost in their own thoughts.

"It's a big thing to get your head around, but if you could try for your dad's sake, I would appreciate it." She watches as LJ places his hands on his head, just like Lincoln does, which makes her smile.

"LJ, I know you love your dad. I could see it in your eyes when you looked at him just now, but you don't know what it's like to be locked up, to have your own life taken out of your control. It's been really hard on him being in here, away from you."

"And you know what it's like to be locked up, do you?" LJ snaps.

"Yes, I have an idea of what it's like." Ella goes quiet for a moment, looking down the corridor. "I think Veronica should be winding down now, let's go back inside, okay."

She stands and offers a hand to pull LJ up, but he doesn't take it. They walk in silence back to the visitation room and stop just outside.

"I promised your dad and Michael that I would do what I can to protect you, and I don't intend to break that promise." Ella tugs at the collar of the vest showing from beneath LJ's t-shirt. "You know not every step-mum gives her son a light-weight state-of-the-art Kevlar vest."

She winks and smiles at LJ.

"Step-mum sounds bad, doesn't it?" She asks, half joking half worried. She stands in front of the door thinking for a minute. "Hmm…Every kid needs a sibling, and you seem like a bratty younger brother type to me. I could use a younger brother and I think you need a protective older sister. What do you say?" She gently nudges him with her shoulder.

"I guess it's better than a step-mum." LJ concedes, less than enthused.

"Gees, don't sound so excited." She replies playfully. "You know older siblings are good for all kinds of things. Free rides, buying alcohol for under-agers. I could go on, but I can tell you are already stoked by the prospects. So how about it?"

"Yeah, okay." LJ replies looking amused and slightly confused. "How about buying me a bottle of Jack, then?"

"Not while you under the watchful eye of mother Veronica." Ella points through the glass window and LJ sees Veronica watching them from inside. "Let's go poppet." Ella says as she opens the door and gently pushes LJ inside. LJ smiles as Ella follows him back to the table.

As they sit down Veronica starts to talk again.

"Do you know where your wife was last night?" She asks.

"She had some errands to run." Lincoln replies, giving Ella a suspicious sideways glance.

"I wouldn't call clubbing an errand, would you?" Veronica accuses bitterly as Lincoln looks at Ella.

Ella sighs, reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small white envelope which she slides across the table to Veronica.

"I was doing some recon. You drew Judge McKenzie for Lincoln's appeal. His daughter is a little wild and I thought we could use some leverage just in case things don't go our way."

Veronica looks shocked as she picks up the envelope.

"I wouldn't open those in here, or in front of LJ for that matter, some of the photos are a little graphic." Ella continues to stir Veronica. "I'm especially proud of the third one. You can see everyone's faces very clearly." Lincoln puts a hand on Ella's knee to stop her.

"Put it in your pocket." Lincoln says to Veronica.

"I don't think blackmail will help Lincoln's case…"Veronica starts but is interrupted.

"But a bit of leverage can't hurt. We are all trying to help Lincoln anyway we can. I'm sorry you don't agree with my methods, but at least I'm trying to help." Ella interjects.

"What's that suppose to mean?"

Ella is stopped again by Links' hand on her knee before she can reply. She decides to let it go and turns to address Link.

"I might give you some time with LJ. He has some questions and he should hear the answers from you." She winks at LJ and stands to leave. "I'll see you this arvo." She kisses Lincoln on the cheek and as she walks by she squeezes LJs' shoulder before leaving the room.

"I can't believe you're married to that girl." Veronica says.

"She's nice and she's trying to help." LJ interjects.

Veronica stares at LJ in stunned silence and Link just smiles. He wonders if there is anyone who Ella can't talk around.

"What's an arvo? And what does stoked mean?" LJ asks his father. Lincoln rubs the top of his head and smiles.

"I don't know. I think arvo means afternoon in Australian. I have no idea what stoked is." He replies.

"Dad?"

"Yes, LJ."

"Ella's great and all but sometimes I don't know what she's saying." LJ confesses.

"Me too." Link responds, laughing.

"Oh great." Veronica sighs.


	6. Chapter 6 the Collar

"How did you go with LJ after I left?" Ella asks, sitting next to Link on his cell bed.

"He likes you."

"Of course he does." Ella smiles being cocky. "And at least he didn't have his tongue hanging out like last night."

"What do you mean?"

"I got changed for the club at their no-so-hidden hideout last night, and I noticed both Nick and LJ checking me out. I think Veronica noticed too, and that made her a little jealous."

"Which you think is funny?"

"Absolutely. Making other women jealous is always fun." Ella laughs. "Did you calm her down eventually?"

"Yeah, it took a bit of persuading, but I think she accepts that I'm married and understands why I didn't mention it before."

"Good."

"So you think you're hot, do you?" Link teases.

"I know I am, baby. I can tell by the way people look and act around me. Women act threatened, and men check me out when they think I'm not looking. And don't think I haven't seen you checking me out." She replies playfully, giving Link a push.

"You're my wife. I'm allowed to look and to touch." He reaches across and tickles her. Ella screams, laughs and falls off the bed.

"Ouch. Abuse! Abuse!" She cries, laughing on the floor. "I didn't know my husband was an abuser!"

"Shh, they'll hear you outside. Here give me your hand. I'll help you up." Link reaches down to help Ella.

"Okay." She replies, and with a flash of mischief in her eyes grabs Link's hand and pulls him off the bed beside her with a thump.

"Ouch. So that's what I get for trying to be nice." Link complains as Ella rolls on top of him and sits up, pinning his hands by his sides.

"Yep. Looks like you didn't know your wife was an abuser too." She giggles and kisses him on the nose. "Come on you'll catch pneumonia down there." She says as she stands and pulls him back onto the bed.

"I like him too. He's a good kid and he's a cutie like his dad." Ella flirts.

"So are we supposed to be doing something while you're down here?" Link enquires ignoring Ella's flirting.

"Not really. No." Ella replies suspiciously then adds, "Actually I have a present for you. But before I give it to you, you have to promise to keep it with you always."

"What is it?" Link asks.

"Promise first." Ella insists.

"Okay, I promise."

"Close your eyes." Link smiles and closes his eyes. He feels Ella shift position and after a moment she puts something around his neck. Link opens his eyes.

"It's the Maori symbol for faith."

Link hesitates before replying. "It's nice."

"But…"

"But I don't usually wear necklaces." Ella smiles and leans in to whisper in Links' ear.

"You'll wear this one. There's enough explosive inside that rubber chain to blow a hole through this wall." Lincolns' smile fades and panic spreads across his face.

"And you put it around my neck?" He cries, alarmed.

"Don't worry. It's safe. Well safe-ish anyway." Ella replies unconvincingly.

"What?"

"I'm kidding." She laughs, and then whispers. "It's a touch-sensitive explosive. It only works when it's dry, so as long as the sealed rubber covering is in tact there's no danger. When you need to use it all you need to do is pull the two threads apart. A piece of tiger-tail will tear the rubber open, and then just press it against a surface using the rubber backing. Wait ten minutes, get behind something and throw the symbol against the rubber to trigger the explosion. Safe as houses, easy to use and best of all made from household products so it's untraceable."

"And I need explosives around my neck because…" Link whispers, a look of utter terror still covering his face.

"How else are you going to get through this wall when the time comes? Duh. Best of all no one will suspect a gift from your wife." Ella watches Lincoln fiddling with the necklace. "Try not to pull on it, just in case." She teases.

Lincoln's eyes bulge in fright as he struggles to undo the clasp.

"Honey, you promised you would keep is with you always." She pouts, pulling Lincoln's hands away gently from the clasp. "It's safe; just don't get it on your fingers. I love you but a disfigured hand may put a dent in our love life."

So will my body without a head." Link grumbles. "Where did you learn how to make explosives? In spy school?"

"Yeah, we covered that on the second week. No, actually I learned to make this particular type of explosive in chem lab in second year uni from a lab tech."

"Jesus. What were you studying? How to be a terrorist 101?"

"Funny. You'd be amazed at the tid-bits you pick up at university."

"So you've been to college?"

"Uni, and yes I have two undergrad degrees. Why do you ask?"

"I just want to know more about you. What did you study?"

"Sorry, but it's probably better to keep those details quiet. Plausible deniability." Ella replies, suddenly acting cagey. "Let's just stick to the story. I'm rich because I inherited money from my parents and I travel a lot. Okay?"

"What do you mean by plausible deniability?"

"If you don't know anything about my real life, and you get caught you can't tell them anything that would help them find me."

"So your name isn't Ella?" Link asks, trying to put the pieces together.

"No, it's not."

"Is anything about you true?" Link enquires becoming serious.

"Details like where I'm from, my education and my name aren't real. I would be stupid to help you in the biggest prison break in history and use my real name. If I did, I would be asking to get caught. And I don't plan on ever getting caught for the things I have done." She looks into Lincoln's eyes and sees his disappointment. "How I am around you, that's true. It's a part of who I really am. It's the good part, reserved especially for you." She jokes, trying to lighten the mood.

"The playful flirting and juvenile jokes."

"Yep, I save it all up for when I visit you."

"But it's not who you are all the time? What are you usually like?" Lincoln persists not allowing Ella to dodge his questions with jokes.

"Mercurial is a term your brother has used in the past to describe me." She sighs. "Do you want some honesty?" Lincoln nods. "I like who I get to be when I'm with you. I get to be happy, sweet and kind. Most jobs I do require me to be the opposite. If this is my chance at redemption, like Michael says, I think it's been too easy so far."

"Why would you need redemption?"

"I've done a lot bad things, Lincoln, only God and myself know how many, and saving an innocent man will be the first good thing I've done in a long time." Ella looks suddenly sad. "I know helping you won't save my soul but it's a start." Ella smiles. "Let's change the subject."

"I didn't mean to upset you, and I don't believe for one second you could do anything bad. I bet you wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Oh yes I would." Ella cries out laughing. "Disgusting, creepy little buggers. I'd wipe them off the face of the planet if I could."

"Okay, okay, maybe not a fly. A puppy then."

"Yeah I wouldn't hurt a puppy." Ella concedes. "I love puppies! But I love the kitties more. I've been bitten by a cheetah cub you know - right here." She shows Link a line of scars across her arm.

"How the hell did you get bitten by a cheetah?" Link asks surprised and amused.

"It's a long story."

"All I've got is time."

"Okay then here goes…"

"What have you being doing to Veronica?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Ella replies innocently.

"Sorry I don't buy it." Michael responds with a frown on his face. "You can't go around upsetting people like that, especially Veronica. I need her to keep working on Lincoln's case, not obsessing over you."

"I haven't done anything, honest." Michael face gives away his disbelief. "Okay, okay. So maybe I stirred to pot a little," Ella confesses, "but I swear I didn't do anything that would warrant her obsession, though I am flattered." Ella quips, but gets no reaction from Michael. "Oh come on. Fine, I'll play nice with the other kiddies. It's gonna cost you though, she's such a little freesia."

"She's a what? What's it going to cost me?" Michael takes the bait.

"A cow. I don't know yet, but it will be big. Honestly you expect a lot for someone who's not even paying my going rate. You're lucky you're so damn cute."

"So was there a reason for your visit or were you just bored?" Michael teases, Ella replies by pulling a face and poking out her tongue.

"If you're going to be like that I might just drop in and see how lawyer girl is going." Ella pretends to get ready to leave.

"Okay. Don't go. What did you need to know?"

"Firstly I've been sussing out LJ and have come to the conclusion that he absolutely cannot handle himself in a fight, so I have arranged for a friend of mine to work with him. Only problem is, I need to get past Momma-bear."

"I'll talk to her."

"Good. I knew I could count on you."

"So how is LJ?"

"A deer in the headlights. He's terrified, which is good. This is a tough game he's caught playing and he needs to know the rules if he is going to survive. Up til now he's been able to rely on luck and Veronica to help him, but if something were to happen to her, he can't take care of himself. He'd be dead within a day."

"But your guy can teach him how to survive, right?" Michael asks, concerned.

"If he's willing to learn, my guy can teach him almost anything he needs to know."

"Good, I'll arrange it with Veronica. What else did you want?"

"I have no idea what you mean." Ella replies unconvincingly.

"You said firstly, so naturally there has to be a secondly, right?" Michael enquires as Ella shifts in her seat.

"I'm worried that Link is asking too many questions."

"It's natural for him to want to know what the plan is…"

"No. He's asking questions about me. I think it's best he doesn't know anything that may upset him."

"You mean like what you do for a living? Is this secrecy for his benefit or yours?"

"Both." Ella replies. "Anyway I don't do that anymore, or at least I won't after I finish this job."

"So you really are retiring?"

"Yeah I figure the stats say I should have changed my profession at least once by now, so I thought I might try something else. Preferably a job where I don't get shot so often, or bitten by wild animals."

"That happen a lot, does it?"

"More than you would think. I mean who keeps cheetahs as house pets, seriously. Not to mention the creepy crawlies. Yuk!" Ella's face twists in disgust.

"Actually I meant getting shot. I thought you were supposed to be good."

"Hey! I am good. I've only been shot a few times and it's always been while protecting some idiot who doesn't know when to stay down. Anyway, if you could not say anything to Link, it would probably keep things running smoothly." Ella is quiet for a moment before her eyes widen in excitement and mischief. "I've thought of it."

"Thought of what?"

"How you can repay me for being nice to Vanessa the undresser."

"I've already told you I don't have any money to pay you."

"Exactly. So I think you should have to do chores around my mansion to repay me."

"What?"

"Yeah, I think you'd make a great pool boy." Ella teases.

"Gee, thanks." Michael frowns. "You don't have a mansion, do you?"

"Not yet, but by the time you guys get out of here I will. With an Olympic sized pool for you to clean. And I think you should have to clean the pool naked."

"What? No way, no deal."

"Fine. So what do you think annoys Veronica more, my being married to the man she loves or the fact that she has some serious competition for the affection of all the men in her life?"

"You're evil." Michael replies, conceding defeat.

"Then I guess I'll need to make sure I have a pool skimmer with an adjustable handle by the time you get out of here. Oh and a role of film to immortalise the moment." Ella taunts Michael.

"Isn't there somewhere else you need to be?"

"Okay, I'm leaving." She smiles. "Watch your back, Mikey, the stakes are about to get higher."


	7. Chapter 7 The Monster Inside

Chapter 6.1

Ella pulls her car to a stop on the side of a dirt road, surrounded by trees and gets out. She leans against her bonnet and pulls a thermos from her pocket. Fog curls from her nostrils in the crisp morning air she pours a cup of coffee from the thermos and watches the steam swirl in the icy breeze. A stocky man appears from behind the trees.

"For me. You're a sweetheart. You always know how to take care of your guys." The man says as he leans against the car next to Ella and takes the cup from her gloved hands.

"What have you got for me?" Ella asks as the man blows on his coffee to cool it down before taking a sip.

"Excellent coffee. Brazillian?"

"Only the best for you, Joe. Freshly ground this morning. So what have you found?"

"Ella-Louise Curts in a ripe stage of decomposition. Half a mile back. Looks like she made a run for it before they caught up with her."

"What time are you on?" Ella asks.

"Seven tonight."

"Okay, you'd better get some rest. I'll have someone make the call at a quarter past so don't be late. You know the drill. The same as that old hack that called himself a fixer you found in the well. Gather two sets of evidence and drop it at the warehouse on the wharf after midnight."

"The body count is rising. Are you going to remove these guys?"

"Body counts only rise if you're a rookie or trying to leave a message. This is amateur hour, they can't even cover their tracks. Get me enough evidence to bury these clowns."

"So you're just gonna let them run around?"

"Yeah. Look Joe, if the vice-president is happy using amateurs to do her dirty work it makes my job that much easier. I just have to follow their tracks and watch them as they keep making mistake after mistake. If I remove them from the game, she will recruit from higher up the chain next time. I don't want to risk her trying to recruit the Raven."

"You think she'd go that high up."

"I would go to the top if I were her. Come on, you know the Raven's rep. How tempting would it be for the vice-president to have him come in and clean up her mess completely. No more loose threads."

"He wouldn't take the job though. Not opposite you."

"She doesn't know who I am and if he were to refuse the job she would become suspicious. Everyone knows the only reason the Raven has ever refused a job is if his sister is involved. So if she asks for him and he refuses, my cover is all but blown. So I leave the rookies in play, and follow their trail of bread crumbs all the way to the vice-presidents front door."

"Nice. It would be funny if she tried to recruit you instead." Joe replies without thinking.

"What do you mean?" Ella enquires.

"Well, no offence Oz, but your reputation is getting to be as bad as the Raven's rep was a few years ago. People are talking and the talk is that your badass, maybe more so than the Raven ever was. Plus there's talk that the Raven has gone soft."

"Really? Well I'll let him know the world thinks he's a pussy then, shall I?"

"Come on, Oz. I'm just telling you the word in the underground."

"And what else is the underground saying?"

Joe hesitates knowing he's heading down a dangerous path. "That you're the reason the Raven has gone soft, that he's trying to get you out and your just getting deeper and more hardcore. People are saying they'd rather recruit you than your brother."

"Interesting. Thanks for the underground update, Joe." Ella says then changes the subject. "The money is in your Swiss account. You do know having a Swiss bank account is so last century, don't you?"

"Yeah it's real retro. It makes me feel like a spy or something. I'll see you at the warehouse tonight." Joe laughs and heads into the trees.

"Enjoy your corpse, Joe. Don't forget to cover your tracks." Ella warns as she gets in her car. She turns around and drives away, smiling to herself. After all the things the Raven has done over the past six years, she can't believe the whole world still think the Raven is a man.

"What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't spend another night cooped up in that hotel. I can't believe you're not happy to see me." Ella pretends to pout.

"I'm jet-lagged. The only thing I will be happy to see is my bed." Jack stares at her for a long moment. "Why are you so happy?"

"I'm not, am I?" Ella replies trying in vain to hide the smile on her face.

"You could never not smile, you know. That massive dent in your cheek you call a dimple won't let you."

"Maybe I'm just happy to see my brother."

"Yeah right. It's this job, isn't it? You are supposed to be taking a break from the sneaky stuff, remember?"

"I know." Ella sighs. She hesitates for a second, lost in her own thoughts before continuing. "Okay, I confess. I'm having fun. What's wrong with that?"

"Absolutely nothing. If I thought this job would have this affect on you I would have stuck around to watch you in action."

"And what affect is that?" Ella enquires still smiling.

"You're positively glowing. If I didn't know any better I would think you got laid." Jack teases. Ella grabs an orange from the basket on the bench and throws it a lightening speed at her brothers' head. He catches it just centimetres from his nose.

"Yeah but we both know better than that. Eat some fruit you look wrecked." Ella teases Jack as she grabs another orange from the basket and begins to turn it over in her hands.

"Gee thanks. Honestly, it's good to see you smile again. It's been a long time." Jack drifts off in his own thoughts.

"What is it?" Ella asks.

"Do you remember the time when you were seven and you found that box with the three kittens in it behind the milk bar up the street from Aunt Franca's place?"

"Yeah, I remember. God I loved those fur balls."

"You were so gently with them, even though they were wild. I remember you putting your little hand in and the big black one taking a swipe at you. You pulled your hand away so fast. You saw the blood dripping from the back of your hand, but you didn't cry. That was the first time you didn't cry when you saw your own blood."

"Don't remind me. I was such a little wimp when it came to pain."

Jack ignores her comment and continues. "You watched the blood dry then folded the flaps of the box over and carried them all the way to Aunt Franca's house. You refused to let me help you. You hid them in the garage and spent hours trying to pat them. I watched as they spat and hissed and clawed you, but you didn't give up. You kept stroking them gently and whispering to them for days until they stopped hissing and clawing. After a week of watching you I was so close to dragging you inside and telling Aunt Franca about the cuts on your hands and the kittens but then I heard one of them purring, it was so loud I could hardly believe it had come from one of those tiny cats. For nearly a month you tamed them in secret; they wouldn't let anyone else touch them at first, and I was so jealous, but by the time we had to go home you had taught them to like to be patted and played with. They were the sweetest cats by the time you had trained them. And finally you decided to confess to Aunt Franca, who by the way had known the whole time."

"She did? God that seems like another life now."

"You were so happy when Aunt Franca found them all homes with her neighbours. You smiled the whole five hour drive home. You were so proud of yourself. I remember overhearing Aunt Franca telling mum and dad how she had watched you with the kittens and commenting on how sweet, kind and gentle you were with them. Do you remember?"

"Yeah. I remember." Ella says looking away as if she could see the past in the distance. "Tell me, what's brought on this bout of nostalgia?"

"What happened in Germany? The things I heard while I was there, I can't believe the same girl that was so careful with those kittens could do something like that."

"I'm sure the story you heard was exaggerated, don't believe the half of it." Ella replies, suddenly uncomfortable. She stands to walk away in an attempt to bring the conversation to a halt.

"I saw what you did. I saw their faces." Jack continues walking after her his eyes betraying his disbelief and disgust. "Tell me you didn't do that to those men. Only a monster…"

"Only a monster could do something like that, Jack?" Ella interrupts enraged. "Well I guess I'm a monster then. Jesus, why can't you leave it alone Jack? Why did you have to get into this world in the first place? What has it achieved? You can't save me from who I am, so why don't you just leave. Go home Jack! Live your life. Have lots of fat babies and be happy. If you stay here, you'll disappear. Go home, please! I'm not worth saving anymore. Your twelve years too late." Ella slouches against the cupboards in the corner of the kitchen and slowly slides into a ball with her head in her hands.

"I don't believe that Germany is who you are. It's who you've become to protect yourself. You're the girl who put herself through a month of pain to help some abandoned kittens. You're not a monster. You just got lost along the way and I am trying to help you find your way back. I won't give up on you." Jack reaches down and takes Ella's hand, pulling her up from the floor. "So stop trying to get me to have fat babies and let's have a drink." Jack teases.

"Sounds like a plan. What's on the cocktail menu tonight, bartender?" Ella replies, pushing her hair back from her face.

"I heard you were getting up close and personal with your mark a week back so how about a 'French Kiss'?" Jack makes childish kissy noises at Ella, who pushes him playfully and sits on the kitchen counter.

"You are such a pain." Ella laughs as she gets two oversized margarita glasses out of the cupboard next to her and waves them at Jack. "Top me up!"

"You are such a light-weight. A Cadbury."

"Oh brother, the challenge is on. I'm no glass and a half girl, but I know you're a toucan Sam."

"Thems fighting words, little sister." Jack replies laughing as he puts the blender next to Ella on the counter.

"Bring it on, Bar wench." Ella replies.


	8. Chapter 8 The Puppet Master

"Hang over?" Bellick asks as he escorts Ella through the prison.

Ella groans her reply. "How did you know?"

"The sunglasses inside are a dead give-away. Big night?"

"My brother was in town for the night and stupidly I got roped into a drinking competition with him."

"Bad move. Men can always out drink women."

Ella doesn't bother to mention that she actually drank her brother under the table last night; instead she plays up to Bellicks' sexist personality.

"I know. I'm regretting it now." She groans again as a guard slams a door at the other end of the corridor.

"Would you like some aspirin?" Bellick asks laying on the fake concern.

"No, thank-you. I don't want to be any trouble. I'll be fine. Really." Ella insists, hiding the fact she knows how desperate Bellick is to get into her pants. The image of Bellick naked churns her stomach and she stops for a second, trying not to be sick.

"Are you sure? You look very pale." Bellick says putting his hand on her lower back. Ella swallows hard, "that's unwanted physical contact, buddy," she screams in her head fighting the temptation to elbow Bellick in the ribs.

"No really, I'm fine now."

"Okay if you're sure."

"Yes, I'm sure." "So long as you stop touching me you creep," she adds to herself. She swears then and there to never drink again, though she knows the next time she gets challenged to a drinking contest she will jump at the chance.

Bellick leads Ella through a door and into the bright autumn sun. The sudden change in light momentarily blinds Ella; she closes her eyes and feels the cool, crisp breeze on her face. She follows Bellick to a locked gate, where he hesitates, watching the eyes turning towards them from across the compound.

"Maybe you would be happier visiting inside today; it's a bit sunny out."

Ella looks at the faces of the prisoners staring back at her from the fence of the general population exercise yard. She looks into Bellick's eyes and gently places her hand on his forearm as she replies, "I'm a big girl, Brad. I'll be fine."

"If any of them give you any lip, you just let me know." Bellick answers, puffing his chest out like a bird in a mating ritual.

"Thanks."

Bellick unlocks the gate and watches Ella walk across the exercise yard to where Lincoln sits on the bleachers.

"Hi Link." She says as Lincoln stands to greet her. She hugs him hello and kisses him lightly on his warm lips.

"Hey baby. Why don't you come over here and I'll show you how a real man says hello!" A 6.3ft African-American prisoner yells at Ella from other exercise yard. Ella can feel Lincolns' body tense and she whispers, "Ignore him."

She sits on the lowest step and gently takes Lincoln by the hand. He sits next to her as she subconsciously strokes the side of his thumb with hers.

"What's with the sunglasses? Hung over?" Link teases.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Ella sighs.

"Probably because you're wearing the darkest sunnies I've ever seen and you have a green tinge to your face."

"Yeah, I confess. I had a few drinks with Jack last night."

"Who's Jack?"

"My brother."

"You're real brother?"

"Yes, Lincoln, my real brother."

"Is that his real name?"

"Lincoln."

"Ella." Link counters. Ella sighs and squeezes his hand. From across the yard the same voice begins to taunt Ella again.

"Hey bitch! I'm talkin' to you!" The prisoner smiles to himself, as his yelling attracts the attention of other prisoners nearby. They line the fence, trying to see what the first prisoner is yelling at. Links' hand closes tight around Ella's, as she watches more and more eyes turn to stare at her.

"Ignore him." Ella repeats, sounding like she's trying to convince herself not Lincoln.

"Wanna hold hands with this, bitch?" The prisoner shouts and grabs his crotch.

Ella seems to struggle inside before she finally stands. "Let's go for a walk."

"I don't think that is such a good idea." Lincoln replies, not liking the ice creeping into Ella's blue eyes.

"All my ideas are good ideas. You should stay here. Please don't move. I'll be right back." Ella says as she slides her hand free and she crosses the yard towards the growing number of prisoners lining the other side of the fence. She stops directly opposite the prisoner that had called out to her and holds his gaze in an icy stare. After a moment she speaks.

"Call me bitch again and you'll find out what it's really like to be someone's bitch." Her tone is calm and even as she addresses the prisoner as if the other prisoners weren't there.

The milling prisoners start yelling and laughing.

"Are you gonna let her talk to you that way, TeeJay?" A short Hispanic prisoner stirs, obviously enjoying the show.

Up on the towers a guard broadcasts a warning to the other towers.

"Look alive boys, something is happening down there." The other guards turn their guns on the crowd forming and watch through their rifle scopes.

"What you gonna do bout it… BITCH?"

Ella seems to finally notice the other prisoners. "Fifty G to the guy who puts TeeJay in the infirmary." She offers looking from one prisoner to the next, trying to figure out which one will turn first. Her eyes fix on the short Hispanic prisoner.

"Do you have that kind of cash?" He asks. Ella pulls a small slip of paper out of her pocket, screws it up and throws it through the fence to the Hispanic prisoner. As he uncreases the paper she fixes her gaze back on TeeJay.

"It's my bank balance." She states. The prisoner's lips move as he tries to work out how many zeros are written on the slip.

"208." He half-whispers in disbelief.

"208 dollars ain't gonna do it, bitch." TeeJay replies suddenly cocky.

"That would be 208 million dollars, actually. And I think that would do it, bitch." Ella replies with a smile of satisfaction.

"No one's gonna listen to you." TeeJay answer back uncertainly, looking at the faces of the prisoners surrounding him.

"You don't sound so sure. After all fifty grand could go a long way towards an appeal or maybe it's enough to start a new life on the outside very comfortably. Hmm… What is it they say? I think the expression is green light, Bitch." Ella's blue eyes are icy cold as she stares down TeeJay. "Unless you felt inclined to apologise. I could be persuaded to rescind my offer, if I felt your apology was sincere."

"Fuck you!" TeeJay replies with a burst of false bravado.

"I bet I can guess what you're thinking right now. You saying to yourself 'should I take that chance?' Look around and you'll see the answer." She looks at the faces of the some of the other prisoners one by one before her eyes settle back on TeeJay. "Fine. You have until this time tomorrow." She steps back from the fence and addresses the group. "If you all haven't heard a public apology by this time tomorrow the first man to bring me that slip with their bank account details on the back wins the fifty G and the pleasure of sending TeeJay to the infirmary." She turns on her heel and begins to walk back towards Lincoln, who watches nervously from the bleachers.

"Wait." TeeJay calls out to her. "I'm sorry."

Ella turns around to face TeeJay. "No. I'm sorry. I'm not convinced, the deal stands." As she walks away she listening to TeeJay's desperate pleading.

"Please, come back! I'm sorry. Come back." He watches her stroll calmly away as he claws and bangs at the wire fence in a futile attempt to gain her attention.

"How did you get him to apologise like that?" Link asks as Ella takes a seat next to him on the bleachers.

"I can be incredibly persuasive when I want to be."

Link knows this is true, but can tell it's not what happened. He looks across the yard and sees all the prisoners have dispersed leaving one prisoner slumped against the fence, with his head buried in his hands.

"What did you do, Ella?" Lincoln interrogates Ella.

"What was necessary to maintain a peaceful status quo." She replies, purposely being vague.

"What does that mean?" Lincoln asks, his tone betraying his rising anger.

"It means no one will bother me again." Ella replies, quickly tiring of his questions.

Lincoln sits in silence watching the lone figure across the yard.

"Everything I do is to ensure your survival. You may disagree with my methods but you cannot deny the results. Ella continues matter-of-factly. "I need to maintain access to your cell and the yard. My way is the only way. That was the deal."

"That's not my deal." Lincoln barks.

"No. You're right. It's Michaels' deal; and for now I work for him." Ella can see Lincoln drawing breathe to speak so she speaks before he can.

"You want out." Lincoln nods in agreement. "Okay. No problem." Lincoln looks relieved until Ella continues. "But you have to be the one to tell Michael that his brother will be executed in twenty-three days and that he will be spending the next five years in here."

"You could still get Michael out." Lincoln replies quietly.

"No dice. There is one deal, one plan. No alterations. If you don't go then neither does Michael. You might not see them, but there are rules, Lincoln. This is a dangerous game and the rules cannot be broken."

"You were right." Lincoln says after a moment's silence.

"About?"

"There are two sides to you. The sweet fun side and this…cold icy side. You said you saved the good side for me. But which is you really?"

"Ice." Ella replies after another moment of silence. She is confused and angry by how much Lincoln's word hurt her. "I'm ice. Cold and hard." Ella looks away, for the first time the conversation is out of her control. She stands and walks away.

Lincoln notices something different about the way Ella moves, and recognises it from the day she kissed him in his cell. Lincoln becomes aware that he may have just experienced the real Ella for the second time.

"Ella." He calls out to her but she keeps walking.

Lincoln wanders along the fence, distractedly waiting for Michael. He thinks about Ella and feels angry and confused.

"Where did Ella go?" Michael asks appearing on the other side of the wire.

"She left." Lincoln replies.

"Why? Did she explain? There are things that need to be taken care of today, she can't have just left." Michael interrogates Lincoln, who seems to be barely listening.

"We argued." Lincoln replies as Michael looks at him with an expression of disbelief. "What?" Lincoln asks.

"I don't think anything you could say would cause her to leave."

"What do you mean?"

"She's a professional. Her reputation for seeing a job through to the end is almost legendary. No matter what the cost to herself or her safety she will finish what she started. She's relentless. No emotion, no mercy." Michael explains, but Lincoln can't seem to get the argument out of his head.

"I asked her if she was ice." Lincoln replies solemnly.

"Oh." Michael says contemplating whether the argument could have possibly caused her to walk away. "Are you sure that's why she left?" Michael asks still not believing him.

"She came, we argued, she left. Do you think she suddenly remembered she left the oven on?" Lincoln rumbles his voice lined with sarcasm.

"It's just out of character. Tell me everything that happened." As Lincoln explains about the conflict with TeeJay, Michael puts the pieces together. Lincoln still doesn't know what Ella did and Michael wrestles with the thought of telling him what he had heard in the yard early that day.

"She gave the green light on TeeJay." Michael confesses, knowing Lincoln would find out eventually.

"What? Why? Is this part of the plan?"

"I guess she did it to ensure that no other prisoners would be game to do anything that would jeopardise the plan while she was in here. She's very clever." Michael's expression is one of admiration.

"What? You think its okay that another prisoner gets hurt because of us?" Lincoln growls.

"No one is going to get hurt. She's clever because all the other prisoners are talking about giving her a wide birth. Which is exactly what we need." Michael explains, but Lincoln still seems confused. "I bet she has already told the guards that TeeJay was in danger and that's why he was removed from gen pop an hour ago." Suddenly it all makes sense to Link.

"You said you guess. I thought you both knew the plan?" Link asks suddenly worried again.

"Um… No. She knows our plan. I have no idea what she is doing. I just know its working in our favour. The agreement was full disclosure to her and to stay out of her way. It was a risk, but we need her. She is one of the best in her field."

"And what field is that, Michael?"

"I don't know what you mean." Michael replies in a lame attempt to dodge Lincolns' questions.

"You just said it, so what field is she in?" Lincoln demands.

"Um… that would be one of those things I can't tell you. She would probably kill me. Gotta go." Michael replies and walks away, leaving Lincoln feeling bad about what he said to Ella and frustrated that no one tells him what is going on.

I'll take this one, Paul." Bellick replies taking over escort duties for Lincoln. "Move it, Burrows." They walk in silence down the corridor and it isn't until they reach the stairs that Bellick can no longer resist and decides to speak up.

"You're a coward, Burrows." He criticizes.

"I don't know what you're talking about sir." Lincoln replies genuinely confused.

"If I had a wife like Ella, I would do anything to protect her from the scum in here. You're a coward letting that piece of trash say those things and frighten her." Lincoln looks at Bellick and sees a darker, wet patch on the shoulder of Bellicks' uniform. He puts the pieces together and realises that she must have cried on Bellick's shoulder while telling him a tale of how TeeJay had threatened her and said God knows what to upset her. Of course Bellick would have dragged TeeJay to the hole, probably even knocked him around a bit and warned him to stay away from Ella. Her hero. Lincoln knows he is painted into a corner and that anything he says will just anger Bellick even more, so he continues to walk in silence. They arrive at the door to Lincoln's cell and as he steps inside, he turns around and puts a hand on the door, stopping Bellick from closing it. Link looks Bellick straight in the eye.

"You're right about one thing."

Bellick chuckles, "and what's that?"

"She's not your wife." Link replies defiantly before letting the door close.


	9. Chapter 9 Poison Pops

"Whose side are you on?" Link asks as Ella enters the yard.

"Someone's still cranky. If it helps I forgive you." Ella replies light-heartedly, though she is aware that forgiveness is something she has never been very good at.

"Bellick had some things to say to me yesterday."

"So you got a lecture from the teacher. Good, now we're even, so we can forget about it and move on." Ella smiles and nudges Link with her shoulder as the walk around the perimeter of the yard. They walk for a few minutes before Link speaks again.

"I am sorry for what I said. Michael set me straight and after my little chat with Bellick I put two and two together and realised that you had everything under control and that you wouldn't let anyone get hurt on my account."

"Don't be so sure. I heard Bellick got a little rough with TeeJay. Not enough to need medical attention, but enough to fool the other prisoners in gen pop that someone got to him and has already claimed the fifty thousand." Lincoln looks astonished by Ella's cunning.

"Who are you, Ella?"

"You know I can't tell you that."

"I just can't believe that you can manipulate everyone into doing whatever you want, without batting an eyelid. I can't see you pulling people's strings until after you have achieved your goal and even then I need Michael to point it out to me. It seems everything you do has some sort of alternative motive. I can't keep up."

"But you understand what I did yesterday and why I did it?"

"Yeah, after the blanks were filled in for me."

"Well, maybe you might start to trust me a little more, now you can see my motives are pure. Mostly pure anyway." Ella adds, jokingly pretending to check out Link's butt.

"If you could explain everything we wouldn't have had yesterday's misunderstanding."

"You can't know the plan for your own protection. You just have to trust that I'll get the job done. I will, you know."

"I'm starting to believe there's nothing you can't do. I just need to have a little faith, right?"

Ella laughs. "Exactly."

"It's amazing who you meet in the joint." Ella exclaims.

"Ella."

"Michael." She replies a fake serious expression on her face.

"Where were you yesterday?" Michael questions.

"Around."

"But not for long enough. Your little walk out has set us back a day. And we don't have any days to lose." Michael scolds Ella.

"What is it with you two today, you're both cranky. Want a wolly-pop?" Ella puts a fake babydoll voice on as she produces a red lolly pop from her jacket pocket.

"He likes green ones. But I'll take the red." Link interrupts as he wanders up next to Ella, and watches Michael through the wire.

"Here you go cutie- a green one for you." Ella throws a green lolly-pop through the wire to Michael, who lets it drop on the ground. "Five second rule. Five, four, thr…" Ella begins to count down until Michael picks it up. "Oh just in time. It's still good just a little extra fibre." Ella remarks as Michael brushes off some grass and dirt. "Eat it, eat it." She chants at Michael who puts it in his mouth. "Floor pop. Nice." Ella laughs as Michael pulls a face at her. "And a sexy red one for my hubby, if he pays the toll." Ella says tapping her cheek. Link looks at Michael through the wire then pokes Ella in the dimple. "Hmm, not what I was looking for, but I'll pay that." She says and drops Link's lolly-pop in the dirt. "Whoops. How clumsy of me. Let me get that for you sweetheart." She bends down and picks up the lolly pop. She gives it a pretend wipe and suddenly jams it into Links' mouth. Link pulls it out, spits out some dirt and grass, then puts it back in his mouth, with a look of satisfaction.

"Touché." Ella responds, impressed by Links' resolve.

"Mmm… Floor pop. Just the way I like it." Link replies sarcastically.

Ella pulls an orange lolly pop out of her pocket, picks some lint off it and moves to put it in her mouth. Michael gives Link a knowing nod, and Link swipes Ella's hand sending the third lolly pop spiralling into the dirt.

"Bugger. I see you have mastered this game." Ella picks up her lolly pop cleans it and begins to suck on it as Link and Michael congratulate each other on their revenge. "Hmm… These aren't bad are they? Wanna taste mine?" She asks Link as she attacks him with the wet lolly pop, leaving a sticky streak down his cheek.

"Victory." She cries and runs away as Link tries to catch her. As she passes Michael he questions her.

"So when are you gonna give us these fabulous gifts?" He asks before Ella takes off again.

"I already have. It's in your mouths." She calls back to him as she dodges Link's final lunge which sends him sprawling to the ground a metre away, next to the fence. Ella walks over and sits on Link as he tries to catch is breathe.

"You gave us poison lolly-pops?" Michael half whispers ripping his green lolly-pop from his mouth.

"It's in the stick bit." Michael gives his stick a suspicious inspection. "Bloody hell. Did you think they would just let me walk in here sporting a can with a skull and cross bones painted on it? Once you've finished keep the stick. When you need to use it bite off both ends at the mark, and hey presto, you have a one shot blow dart tipped with curare. Natures paralysing agent." Michael looks impressed as Ella finishes her explanation and pulls Link up off the ground.

"Who are we going to paralyse?" Link asks, out of the loop of information again.

"The guards."

"Oh. I love this plan." Link replies cynically.

"Of course you do its one of mine after all." Ella gloats ignoring Links' tone.

"So now we have poison and explosives. Why don't we just stay and open a black market in here? I have a kidney I'm not using." Link grumbles. Ella kisses him on the cheek.

"Did you know he was this funny?" Ella asks Michael and turns back to Link. "Cheer up, sweet cheeks. We have a date in the conjugal room tomorrow."

Link gives Michael a questioning look.

"Don't look at me." Michael replies putting his hands in the air as Link turns to question Ella who's sporting a cheeky grin.

"Well, they do say if you don't use it you lose it." She laughs with a sparkle in her eye.

"Three visits in just a few days." Jack comments as he wanders out of the bathroom drying his hair with a blue towel.

"Just thought I'd drop by and say goodbye." Ella replies as she watches Jack stroll casually into the kitchen and pour himself a glass of juice, wearing nothing but a white towel around his waist. "You really are making yourself at home while I'm not here." Jack smiles back at Ella.

"You're in a good mood again." He remarks.

"I'd be in a better mood if you would stop using my blue towel to dry your hair. That's pretty gross you know." Ella crinkles her face in disgust.

"I'm worried about you." Jack comments as he throws the wet towel at Ella's head.

"Why? Everything has worked out." She replies as she catches the towel.

"You were pretty down last night. Way down and now you're up again. It's hard to keep up with your moods." Jack sips his juice looking at Ella with concern. She sees his expression and attempts to change the subject.

"I see you have been making use of the gym while you are visiting." Ella comments prompting Jack to pose, flexing his bicep. "And a new tatt. Funny, I recall a certain someone going crazy when they saw one of mine." Ella comments, studying the black bird on Jack's shoulder.

"You like it? I thought it would go well with my pumped muscles." Jack replies and pretends to admire himself in the refrigerator reflection. Ella laughs and throws the towel back at Jack.

"Cover up, pretty boy. It's a bit obvious isn't it? A black bird, come on?"

"What?"

"You're enjoying this life aren't you?"

"Definitely not."

"Come on. So you don't love the money, the travel, the gadgets, the hot cars…"

"Okay maybe I'm having a little fun. Why not? So long as I'm playing this role, why not go a little overboard."

"Umm… Probably because if someone catches you, I'm going to have to drop everything and come rescue you…again. Remember how we had to live in that cave for two weeks?"

"Yeah. Living off toasted bats in below zero temperatures. Ah…Good times."

Ella laughs. "Yeah, good times. Not! And I'm not saving you if you get caught doing something stupid."

"Like what?" Jack asks.

"Like trying to bluff some drug lord that if he doesn't let you sleep with his wife you'll burn his multi-million dollar, heavily guarded crops to the ground. I just can't understand why you can't pick women up the normal way?" Ella sighs.

"What? By getting them liquored up and taking advantage of them?"

"Exactly. Like everyone else does. Just because you're supposed to be hardcore, doesn't mean you can't do things like other people sometimes."

"Like you, you mean. The last time I heard about you getting any action was when I heard about you convincing a very straight Albanian Princess she was in love with you, then making off with the kingdoms' jewels." Jack teases.

"Those jewels were very pretty. Sparkly. They went with the dress I wore to a ball in the South of France the following week."

"And that's a good enough excuse to mess with someone's sexual identity?"

"Okay, so we both do things a bizarre way." Ella concedes. "I'm fucked up, what's your excuse?"

"I grew up with a fucked up step-sister." Jack counters.

"You love me."

"Yeah, I do. No matter how fucked up you are."

"Thanks." Ella laughs but looks like something is on her mind.

"What is it?" Jack asks.

"I just… Thanks for last night."

"No worries." Jack replies, trying to put Ella's mind at ease. "Maybe you should try not to get so involved in this job your doing. I hate seeing you like that."

"Don't worry, I have everything under control."

"Okay. I trust you." Jack says as he heads to his bedroom to pack.

"Promise you'll be careful in Cuba." Ella calls after him.

"What is it?" Jack turns at the door, and looks into Ella's blue eyes.

"The Raven made a lot of enemies last time."

"There's nothing in the Intel to suggest anyone knows I'm going to be in the country."

"I've read the Intel too, and something doesn't feel right. Just watch your back."

"Okay. I'm beginning to trust your spider senses."

"Spider senses! You are such a geek." Ella laughs. "Go pack and I will arrange some extra friendlies for you while your over there."

"You think it's necessary?"

"Absolutely. Now get dressed and packed. I'm sick of you wandering around my house half-naked."


	10. Chapter 10: The Artful Dodger

"Why are we meeting in here?" Link asks, nervously.

"We're supposed to be husband and wife, remember?" Ell replies as she removes her coat, throws it on the end of the bed and starts to unbutton her white linen shirt. Link looks away, but not before catching a glimpse of a white lace bra and a tattoo of red and black dice on Ella's hip.

"Aren't we being modest today?" Ella comments, noticing Link blushing slightly. "Come on, Link. I'm pretty sure you've seen it all before so stop being a prude and get your kit off."

"What? I'm not taking anything off." Link replies stubbornly still studying the wall.

"We'll see." Ella replies as she straddles Link's lap and starts to unbutton his shirt. He tries to stop her, without looking in her direction. She puts a finger on his cheek and turns his head to look her in the eye.

"I'm not gonna sit around here half naked alone. That shirt is coming off one way or another." She warns. Link smiles at Ella.

"You're what, 120 pounds? I'm pretty sure you can't make me, so why don't you give up."

Ella smiles mischievously. "You still underestimate me. I could force you."

Link greets this comment with sheer disbelief.

"You think you could overpower me?"

"In an instant."

"I'll admit you're pretty ripped for a woman, but you're no match for me. I'm practically twice your size."

"I'll take that as a challenge." Ella replies smiling as she climbs off Links' lap. "I'll try not to hurt you."

Link starts to reply but is interrupted as Ella grabs him. Within five seconds she has him firmly pinned face down on the floor, struggling to get free. She pulls his left arm behind his back and holds it in a vice grip as she runs her fingers along his shirt front, undoing his buttons one by one. Link tries to rise to his knees, but she places her feet in the back of his knee caps and applies pressure, causing his legs to collapse. She undoes the final button, pulls Links' right arm behind him and pulls his shirt off in one quick move.

"Victory." She cries as she stands and holds the shirt up above her head. Link rolls onto his back and looks up at her from the floor.

"How the hell did you do that?" He asks, stunned by her speed and strength.

"I'm faster than you, plus I've had twelve years of training. I didn't hurt you did I?" She asks pulling Link up off the floor.

"Just my pride." He replies rubbing his left shoulder. "Twelve years? That would mean you started when you were fourteen."

"Yep. I started karate, judo and boxing at fourteen."

"Were your parents trying to breed a super-soldier or something?" Link asks a little shocked.

"Actually they didn't know. I also have training in military martial arts, kung fu and about half a dozen other obscure combat techniques you've probably never heard of. I can definitely hold my own."

"I can see that." Link replies still rubbing his shoulder. "We spend so much time together and I still don't know anything about you."

"Actually, if you really thought about it, you'd realise you know heaps about me."

"Okay. So I know you're some kind of crazy alchemist that makes explosives and poison darts and you can kick my ass." Ella laughs at Links' description of her. "I know that you are smart, maybe brilliant, and you're always in control of everything and everyone around you."

"I'm not always in control." Ella replies thinking back to the argument they had a few days earlier. "See you do know things about me."

"Not like you know me, though." Link replies disappointed.

"Link, you can know everything about a person, all the little details that make up who a person is, but you still won't know them until you do."

Thanks for the wisdom, Yoda."

"Very welcome, you are." Ella replies putting on a Yoda voice.

"Geek." Link replies.

"That's one more thing you know about me. I'm a geek." They sit in silence for a while lost in their own thoughts until Link speaks.

"Can I ask you something?"

"I don't know, why don't you give it a try." Ella replies good naturedly.

"The other day when you kissed me in my cell…"

"There have been plenty of other days when I have kissed you in your cell." Ella replies trying to dodge the question she can see coming.

"The day you overcame your claustrophobia."

"I haven't overcome it. I've just trained myself to control it." Ella says desperately trying to change the subject.

"Ella."

"Link."

"Stop dodging the question. This is one time where you are going to give me an answer.

"I'm not dodging." Ella replies sulkily.

"Yes. You are." Link answers as Ella moves to kiss him. He puts his hand up to stop her. "Your moves are becoming predictable. You can't distract me by kissing me. Just answer the question."

"Are you sure?" Ella counters as she gently brushes her lips against his earlobe. Link feels her warm breath on his ear and for a moment is distracted.

"No." He pushes her away. "Answer the question, damn it." Link demands, frustrated.

"Settle petal. I don't know why you're getting so angry, technically you haven't asked me a question yet, so I can't answer one."

"Argh… You can be so infuriating."

"I know. Its one of my skills."

"You're telling me. Fine! The other day you kissed me in my cell, the day after you passed out, and it was different than the other times you have kissed me. Why? What was different?"

"It was different? Sorry, I didn't notice. Did I use more tongue or something?" Ella answers, giving a brilliant performance, but Link doesn't buy it.

"You did notice. I saw your face after the kiss, so stop dodging."

"If I continue to avoid answering the question, will you give up and stop asking?"

"Absolutely not."

"Fine. It was something you said, it was one of the few nice things anyone has said to me in a while.

"It was more than that." Link replies. "You ask me to blindly trust you and I try, so why is it so hard for you to trust me too?"

It's nothing personal. I don't trust anyone."

"That's pretty sceptical."

"The only thing you can trust people to do is always act in their own best interests. So if you tell someone something important to you, eventually they will find a way to use that information to their own advantage."

"You have a lot of faith in mankind."

"I have faith in instinct. It's everyone's instinct to get ahead, no matter what the consequences or the betrayal."

"Sounds like you trusted someone once."

"A long time ago, when I didn't know any better."

"And that person betrayed you, so now you know better."

"Yes."

"I'm not that person Ella. Give me a chance."

Ella is silent for a long time, trying to fight the instinct rising inside her, telling her she can trust Link.

"In my line of work, no one sees me for who I am. I always play a role and no one ever sees me. When you said what you did… It was the first time in a long time someone saw something in me that I see in myself. It was if in that second you saw the true me." Ella slowly speaks as though she can't believe it's her voice she is hearing.

Link is quiet for a long time, surprised by Ella's uncharacteristic candour. Ella seems shocked by her comments and becomes submerged in her own thoughts, regretting trusting Link and feeling angry at her lack of control. Link sees the pain and confusion on Ella's face and gently takes her hand in his. His touch pulls Ella from her thoughts and suddenly she is aware of the affect Link has on her. She pulls away trying to regain control of the situation, but Link moves closer and wraps his arms around her. His warmth spreads throughout Ella's body washing away the rising feelings of confusion and anger inside her. After a moment he moves away but takes her hand again and gently strokes the side of her thumb with his. Ella senses a closeness between herself and Link that she has not felt before and for the first time realises that she cannot control the emotions churning inside her.

"Why is it so important for you to know who I am?" Ella asks, still caught up in a whirlwind of confusion.

"I don't know. It just seems like the most important thing to me right now." Link replies truthfully.

"Why?" Ella asks desperately bewildered by the how the conversation has gotten so far out of her control.

"Honestly I don't know. All I know is when I'm with you I can't stand not knowing about you and when I'm not with you I think about you all the time. You're a riddle I don't know the answer to and I can't get out of my head. I fall asleep thinking about you and wake up dreaming about who you might be."

As Link's explanation sinks in, Ella finds herself fighting not to reveal who she truly is. Link seems lost in his own thoughts too, so they both sit in silence for almost an hour, before Ella thinks of a way to cheat her instincts.

"I've got an idea. Why don't we play hypotheticals. It's a great way to get to know someone without divulging any details about who they are."

"Like 'what would you do if…'?"

'"Exactly. I'll go first. Um… This is a stupid question but the answer provides significant detail about your character and way of thinking. Ready?"

"Yes." Link replies preparing for Ella's characteristic peculiarity.

"Okay. What would you do if the crocodile that had bitten off your leg five years early went floating by and you had a shotgun. Would you take revenge? Would you kill it or just take one of its legs? Or would you take two?"

"How do I know it's the same one?"

"Don't you ever watch nature documentaries?" Link shakes his head, prompting Ella to continue to explain. "Crocs are territorial, so he would still be lurking around the same area as when he chomped off your leg. Stop getting hung up on the details and answer the question. Would you take revenge?" Ella insists.

"No."

"Why not?"

"It's an animal. It was just following its instincts."

"Okay. What if a loan shark hacked off your leg? If the opportunity presented itself and there were no repercussions, would you take revenge?"

"Yes."

"Why? What's different?"

"People make choices. They aren't slaves to their instincts."

"So would you take one of his legs or kill him?"

"I would kill him."

"No, you wouldn't. You think you would, but I can tell you wouldn't." Ella replies with complete conviction.

"You don't know that." Link replies.

"Yes, I do. You're like everyone else. The only time you would kill someone is if it were the only way for you to survive."

"And you're different?" Link enquires, surprised by her insight into his psyche.

"I've been trained to be different." Ella looks at the light streaming in through the barred window for a moment before turning back. "Your turn."

"Okay. What would you do if a dying friend came to you and asked you to adopt their baby? Would you do it?"

"Do I have the life I do now?"

"Yes."

"Then, definitely no."

"Why not?"

"My work doesn't leave any room for alternative commitments, responsibilities or relationships. It would be irresponsible of my friend to even ask me, knowing what I do for a living."

"It must be pretty lonely being all about your work."

"Sometimes." Ella replies. An expression of sadness quickly passes across her face and is replaced by a smile. "But my piles of money keep me warm at night. My turn again." She thinks in silence for a long moment before a cheeky grin emerges and her eyes begin to sparkle. "What would you do if a gorgeous half-naked blonde was sitting in front of you right now?" She asks as she climbs on Links' lap again and kisses him on the forehead. He runs his hands up her back, beneath her shirt and pulls her in close and kisses her on the lips.

"Hmm…Good answer." Ella replies and kisses him again.


	11. Chapter 11: The Crew

Ella sits at the bar; casually swirling a cherry in her cocktail and watching the reflection of a man approach her from the door.

"Governor Tancredi, it's nice to see you again. Can I get you a drink?"

"Call me Frank. I would love a scotch." Ella nods to the bartender, who immediately comes over to serve her.

"Scotch on the rocks. Single malt." Ella orders.

"I see you remembered my favourite drink." Governor Tancredi remarks as the waiter places a glass of scotch in from of him on a white napkin.

"I find that people in positions of power, like yourself, respond to attention to detail."

"I wonder what other details about me you have been paying attention to."

"The detail I'm most interested in is how you have chosen to spend the money I donated to your office. Building a fortress around your daughter won't protect her as well as you would think."

"You don't agree with my choice for the use of the surplus funding I happened to find in my budget."

"Actually I can understand why you would choose to reinforce the infirmary at Fox River. I was just wondering how you plan to keep Sarah in and the prisoners out. At least five prisoners a day enter her infirmary and she is always coming and going. Though not as much as she did before the riot."

"Yes. I was certain after that experience she would give up working in that dreadful place. As to the prisoners entering, unfortunately I have little control over who is permitted access to the infirmary and when."

"A little control. Hmm… So you do have some control over who is permitted into the inner infirmary and who remains in the trolley bay. How does Sarah feel about you deciding on who gets the best treatment in her infirmary?"

"She is unaware of my actions, and I would like it to remain that way."

"Of course. Actually, that's not why I invited you here."

"Why did you invite me?"

"I wanted to thank you in person for helping arrange access to my husband in these stressful times. I deeply appreciate your cooperation with regards to my access to Fox River."

"Honestly, Ella, your generous donation to my campaign and to my office have been more than enough thanks."

"I also wanted to congratulate you on finding a suitable project to spend the donation on. I think your reasons as a father are justified, but as a Governor your actions will work to provide a better level of care for the prisoners of Fox River."

"A situation you have become intimately interested in since your husband became a patron of our institution."

"Of course. We all have our reasons, don't we Frank?"

"Here's to reasons." Governor Tancredi raises his glass in a toast.

"To reasons." Ella replies, thinking how easy it is to get the Governor to do what ever she wants when he has a few scotches under his belt, which is the real reason she invited him to drinks.

* * *

"Hello Michael."

"Good morning Doctor Tancredi."

"If you would take a seat and roll up your sleeve, please." Sarah replies, struggling to be as remote and professional as she possibly can.

"What's with the builders?" Michael asks, watching a construction crew busily bringing equipment and supplies into the infirmary.

"It seems the prison was given a generous donation soon after the riot and the Governor has decided it would be better spent if it were used to update the security of the infirmary." Sarah replies, knowing what comment is coming next.

"So your father is making your workplace safe with the money from a generous benefactor? And you're okay with it?"

Sarah roughly stabs Michael an insulin needle. "Ouch."

"Sorry." Sarah apologises and sighs. "No, obviously I'm not okay with my father turning my infirmary into fort Knox, but he doesn't listen to me. He's made up his mind and I can't do anything to stop it. I'm not necessarily sure if it's such a bad idea anyway. I haven't felt comfortable in here since the riot."

"So what are they planning to change?" Michael enquires, feigning disinterest.

"I think they are planning to reinforce the doors, put in a panic button and an independent communication line."

"I think it's probably a good idea. You should be safe." Michael replies. "Are we done?"

"Yes, we're done." Sarah replies as Michael rolls down his sleeve.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"So long as it's not personal." Sarah replies warily.

"You never told me what you thought of Ella?"

"I honestly didn't spend that much time with her after she regained consciousness. She's very attractive."

"Do you think?"

"Blonde, blue eyes, 5ft 10, pretty smile. I think she's close to every Fox River prisoners' dream girl."

"Not every prisoner. I prefer red hair." Michael replies with a sparkle in his eyes. "See you tomorrow Doctor Tancredi."

"Goodbye, Michael." She replies, finally realising the sparkle in his eyes is the reason she can't seem to keep things professional.

* * *

Michael stands with his back to the wire, listening to footsteps approaching from the other yard.

"So..." Michael asks not turning around, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

"So what?" Link replies pretending not to know what Michael is eluding to.

"How was Ella's visit yesterday?"

"If you want to ask if we slept together, I suggest you just ask, Michael." Link replies gruffly.

"I don't really have to ask. I can tell you didn't."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. I know you didn't because you're in love with Veronica, and you wouldn't do anything to jeopardise that. Plus you don't look like a guy who just got laid."

"You sound pretty sure of yourself."

"I am. Ella's great and she's fun to have around, but you and V have a history."

"Ella's a bit more than great."

"What do you mean?" Michael asks, his voice concealing his concern.

"Look at what she has accomplished in the short time she has been here. She has managed to gain access to pretty much anywhere in the prison. She orchestrated a stay of execution, has Bellick wrapped around her little finger and the entire gen pop completely terrified of her. You were right… She is brilliant."

Michael turns and watches Link as he describes Ella and begins to worry that there may be something developing between the two of them.

"Don't fall for her Link." Michael warns. "You don't know who she really is."

"I'm not falling for anyone, okay. I just… I like her. She's so different than anyone I've ever met. She's so in control, but at the same time so completely free. She does whatever she wants without worrying what other people think. Just spending time with her makes me feel free, like I'm not confined by blue stone walls and razor wire."

"Just be careful of her. You've seen how good she is at manipulating other people; just don't become one of them."

"She wouldn't do that. Look, Michael, I know you're concerned, but we're just friends. Not even that. We're becoming friends. That's all, so there's nothing to worry about. I just like the way she makes me feel; like I'm a free man."

"I am worried about you and the way you're talking about her. You don't know what she is capable of."

"You may know her reputation, but you don't know her Michael. You can know all the little details about a person, but you don't know them until you do."

"You don't know her either, Link. I don't want to argue about this. Just don't forget what I've said. Ella could become a problem later; we just have to stay in control of the situation as much as possible."

"And how do we do that, Michael, when you have no idea what she's up to?" Link enquires. Link watches Michael and sees the wheels turning as he formulates a plan.

"You're becoming friends, right?" Michael asks.

"Yes." Link replies warily.

"So we use your relationship to gather as much information from her about her plans as we can, keeping us in the loop."

"I don't know if I can." Link replies, hesitation lining his voice. "She'll catch on if I start asking too many questions."

"So don't ask. If you're right about becoming friends, it means she's starting to trust you. Has she trusted you with something important to her?" Link nods, trying to avoid giving Michael an opportunity to ask what information Ella trusted him with, but Michael seems too wound up in his plan and continues to scheme.

"Okay, so just keep doing what you're doing. The more she trusts you the more information she will share with you. Anything involving our escape you report back to me, so I can keep tabs on her activities."

"So I don't have to lie to her or ask her any questions that may arouse her suspicions?"

"No you won't have to lie to her. I don't know why you would worry about that anyway, she has no problem lying to you about herself."

"It's not that. You said she could become a problem. If she catches on that we are playing her, she may become a problem sooner rather than later." Link lies, hating the situation his brother has put him in.

"You're right. So just make sure she stays on our side. Okay?" Michael insists, not noticing Links' apprehension.

"Sure. No problem." Link replies, thinking it would be easier to keep a rattlesnake in a straight line than keep Ella on their side if she discovers their betrayal.

* * *

Ella watches as several construction workers pass through the gate before her. A tall Mexican man with a handle bar moustache is the last to pass and as he does he gives Ella a barely perceivable nod.

"What's going on?" She asks.

"They are finally doing some work on the infirmary." Bellick replies ushering Ella through the gate. "It's about time too. After the riot they only patched up the place temporarily, and I guess they found some funds to pay for a new renovation."

"The doctor here… Dr."

"Dr Tancredi." Bellick offers.

"Yes. Dr Tancredi. Her father is the Governor isn't he?"

"Yeah. Why do you think they miraculously found the money to pay for the repairs to the infirmary?"

"Ah… Politics has never been my strong point. It seems there is always an angle you can't see."

"Everything is politics these days. I just keep my head down and do my job. Keep things simple, you know what I mean?" Bellick asks as he fiddles with the lock on the door to the exercise yard.

"Absolutely. I prefer things to be simple too." Ella flashes a sweet smile as Bellick escorts her out into the weak Autumn sun. "So how long do you think the repairs will take?" Ella asks conversationally.

"As long as the contractors choose to take. They apparently won the contract by putting in the lowest bid but builders in this country are the biggest scammers. They'll overcharge for sure and take twice as long on a job just because they can."

Of course they will, Ella thinks to herself, because I told them to and they're on my payroll.


	12. Chapter 12: The BurrowsScofield Show

Ella wanders up behind Link and gently wraps her arms around him, giving him a gentle bear hug. She rests her chin on Link's shoulder and nods to Michael through the wire.

"Hey brother-in-law." She says.

"Hi Ella." Michael replies not meeting her gaze. Immediately she senses something is wrong and moves to stand beside Link. She bumps him playfully with her shoulder.

"Did you miss me?" She jokes.

"Yeah." Link replies, his body language an obvious give away.

"Hmm… Try to contain your enthusiasm." Ella continues to joke, trying to suss out what is going on. She tries to maintain eye contact with Michael who breaks away and looks around nervously.

"I better move on or the guards will get suspicious." Michael says and abruptly turns on his heel and walks to the opposite side of the yard. Ella turns to Link and claps her hands.

"Great performance by the Burrows-Scofield brothers. Can I get an Encore?" Ella's says her voice resonating with sarcasm.

"What are you talking about, Ella?" Link counters, nervously digging his hands deeper into his pockets.

"I can tell by the way you both stopped talking when I arrived, your body language and a million other tells that you and Michael were talking about me. Probably scheming in some way to betray my confidence if your monosyllabic greeting and nervous behaviour is anything to go by." Link looks back at Ella, completely dumb-founded by her thirty second assessment. He regains his composure and attempts a denial.

"You're paranoid. We weren't talking about you." Link replies a little too defensively and regrets it immediately.

"You are the worse liar and that was the most unbelievable denial I have ever had the misfortune of witnessing." Ella laughs. "You'll feel a lot better if you just come clean."

Link explains Michaels' plan and the part Lincoln would have to play.

"Cheeky bugger." Ella says sounding amused as Link ends his explanation. "All that trouble of planning and lying only to fail in the first minute. I don't know how you boys get by in here. Funny thing is you totally wasted your time; all you had to do was ask."

"Really?" Link replies in disbelief.

"Yes, really. So just ask already." Ella insists.

"Okay. Tell me what you have been doing to get us out of here?"

"Too many things to remember, hubbie."

"Hey, you said I'll I had to do was ask." Link sulks.

"Yeah, but I never said I would answer if you did. It's just polite to ask first before going behind someone's back."

"But you are still working on getting us out of here?"

"Absolutely. I am currently laying down a distraction for when the time comes, I have started construction an exit route and I have provided you with the means to disable any guards that may interrupt us in the act. I'd say I'm well on track."

"I didn't want to betray you, but I couldn't say no to Michael. Are you mad?" Link asks a little worried.

"Furious." She teases, grimacing at Link. "No, I'm not mad, maybe a little entertained, but not mad. You really should leave the cloak and dagger stuff to me; at least I'm trained for it. And to be honest you're bloody terrible at it." She laughs.

"Gee thanks."

"Anyway I've brought you a present. It's over there near the hoop."

"How did you convince them to let you bring that in here?" Link replies rushing over to pick up a black basketball.

"I bought the guards an x-ray scanner, like they have at the airports. They scanned the ball and deemed it safe. No hidden files inside so they let me bring it in."

Link starts shooting hoops from the free throw line.

"So how about a game?" Ella asks.

"Have you ever played one-on-one basketball before?" Link asks.

"Actually I had never even seen a basketball until I can to the U.S." Ella replies stone faced.

"Are you serious?" Link asks handing her the ball.

"No. God, do you think we all run around chasing boomerangs and hitching rides in kangaroo pouches?" Ella growls and throws the ball to Link. "Just check it, punk."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I've never been to Australia." He apologises as he returns to ball to Ella.

"Who says I'm even from Australia?" Ella says, as she steps around Link and takes the first shot. "That's one-nil, I believe." She replies looking at Links' stunned expression. She uses her index finger to push Lincoln's mouth closed. "I think you're supposed to try and stop me."

"Are you really not Australian? Where are you from?" Link asks in utter disbelief.

"Maybe I am, then again maybe I'm not. Doesn't change the fact that your still one down, so quite yapping and play."

Link takes the ball and tries to side step around Ella. She intercepts the ball and returns to the free throw line and shoots. Link watches the ball pass cleanly through the hoop before turning to Ella.

"What does it matter if I know you're not from a country? Next you'll be telling me your not a real blonde."

"Well… Actually…" Ella replies guiltily.

"Your not a blonde?" Link asks, his expression still one of shock.

"Everyone has this perception of the Australian woman. Blonde, blue eyes, tall. Plus I had just come from Sweden so my hair was already this colour." Ella explains.

"Just tell me are you Australian?" Link demands, frustration entering his voice.

"The passport I have says I'm Australian."

"So you are Australian then?" Link asks trying to get a straight answer from Ella, who seems to be ignoring him.

"Then again, I have six or more passports for about thirty countries that all say I'm their citizen, so who really knows?" Her eyes sparkle as she looks Link in the eye. "God, I've never really thought about it, but that's over one hundred and eighty passports. I'm gonna need a bigger suitcase."

"You're planning on putting them all in one suitcase? And take them where?" Link asks trying hard fit the pieces together.

"I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before; I'm retiring from my blue collar life after I bust you outta the joint." She replies in a perfect Brooklyn accent.

"You're retiring? You're pretty young to retire." Link replies giving up and sitting on the concrete court.

"I bought a yacht the other day." Ella says as she lies next to Link and closes her eyes from the sun.

"That's a very blue collar purchase and what are you going to do with a yacht?"

"Sail, duh. I have always wanted to explore the Greek islands, see the temple ruins built by accolades of Aphrodite, sit in the sun, drink, eat, swim, tan and be generally merry."

"Sounds like fun."

"I suppose you could come if you wanted. I could use the company." Ella opens her eyes, winks at Link then closes them again.

"I don't know how I would go on a boat. I get seasick." Link replies leaning back to lie next to Ella, resting his hands on his stomach.

"Mind over matter, Link. Tell me you don't want to wake up to the sound of clear water lapping against the side of the boat, the warm sun on your face, a gentle breeze kissing the waters surface; rocking the boat slightly." Link closes his eyes as Ella continues her description. "We would snorkel to the nearest island, watching the coral life pass beneath us. We would feast on wild fruit for breakfast then explore the temple ruins amongst the wild flowers, listening to the wild bees in the canopy above."

"Sounds like paradise." Link says opening his eyes and sitting up to rest on his elbows.

"My paradise anyway." Ella says, half smiling.

"So that's where you're going after we escape?"

"Yeah. I figure I can spend the summer months sailing around the islands exploring and relaxing for the first time ever. Then maybe I'll go home. See my family; maybe even build myself a real life. Who knows."

"How long since you've seen your family?"

"Nine years. I was seventeen the last time I saw my parents."

"So you'll go home and settle down."

"I guess so."

"Is that what you want?"

"I don't know. It's what I'm supposed to want, isn't it? A normal, quiet life, a family, 2.5 kids, a home and a dog. I don't know. It's hard to picture myself in that kind of life. I barely remember when my life was normal; I don't know if I even know what a normal life really is." Ella lies very still for a moment and feels her chest rise and fall with each cool breath. "So do you want to come with me?" She asks, not opening her eyes.

"Michael thinks we will go to Panama after all this."

"Not a big fan of Panama. Actually that's not quite true. The Panamanian authorities aren't a big fan of me. I think I still in their top five most wanted."

"Are you serious?" Link turns to rest on one elbow looking down at Ella, as the sun peaks out from behind another cloud. She puts her hand up to shield her eyes but Link changes position so the shadow of his free hand falls across her face.

"They get kind of mad when you have gunfights in the streets in Panama."

"You were in a gunfight in the streets of Panama?" Link asks in astonishment.

"They started it." Ella pouts.

"Who's they?"

"The bad guys. Well… technically, I was the bad guy that time, but they still shot first." Ella confesses, rolling onto her elbow to be face to face with Link.

"Oh well… So long as they shot first." Link says sarcastically. Ella answers his tone with a quick jab to his upper arm. "Ouch."

"Serves you right for mocking me." Ella replies and lies down again with a look of satisfaction on her face. "Are we going to play or what?" She asks.

"Sure. I love playing basketball against gun fighting, fake blonde, non-citizens."

"Lucky I was in the area and decided to stop by then." She replies and does a martial arts flip up from the ground that leaves her standing next to Link. "Let's play." She says as she offers him a hand up.

"Holy crap." Link exclaims. "You're gonna beat me, aren't you?"

"Yes. But I hope you'll still try. It makes things more interesting." Ella says taking the ball out of Lincoln's hands.


	13. Chapter 13: The Way She Moves

Sucre stands looking into the other exercise yard, his left hand gripping the wire as he observes two figures playing basketball.

"Who's winning?" Michael asks under his breath as he turns his back and leans against the wire.

"Look at the way she moves." Sucre replies distractedly, his eyes following Ella's figure around the court. Michael half turns so he can see his brother and Ella.

"And how does she move?" Michael enquires.

"Like a cat."

"Really? I don't see it." Michael denies.

"Every movement is smooth and calculated. It's like watching a ballet dancer. Graceful but…." Sucre fades into silence.

Michael watches Ella as she plays and can clearly see she isn't moving like other people. Ever movement is completely deliberate and controlled. Her shirt lifts as she takes another shot and he sees her abdominal muscles tightening and relaxing as she moves. Her creamy skin sparkles with small beads of sweat across her lower back and accentuates her phoenix tattoo. The wind whips up suddenly, causing some loose strands of blonde hair to flow with the breeze, framing her face. Michael turns away and coughs.

"But what?" He asks Sucre who cannot take his eyes away from Ella.

"I've been watching her and its sort of disturbing somehow. I don't know why. It's like watching a plane fall from the sky. Beautiful as it turns, dives and spins chaotically towards the Earth, but terrifying because you know your moments from witnessing death."

Michael looks around and sees the same horrified fascination on the faces of at least ten other prisoners watching the basketball game. He realises that more prisoners are coming across to watch and panics. He puts his fingers to his lips and whistles, gaining the attention of Link and Ella. He waves them over and moves away from the growing crowd.

"Hey Mikey, what's up?" Ella asks as Link comes up beside her, gasping for breath.

Michael waves to Sucre to join them.

"Ella, this is my cellmate, Ferdinando Sucre." Ella waves and Sucre smiles back at her. "Tell them what you just said." Michael demands.

"Um… What do you mean?" Sucre asks, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.

"About the plane and Ella." Michael insists.

As Sucre repeats his description of the way Ella moves, her smile fades and she turns to stare Michael in the eye.

"So you're saying we can't even play basketball." Ella asks Michael.

"Look around." Michael says, as Ella looks around to see the faces of a dozen or so prisoners staring at her.

"Okay. We won't play anymore." Ella concedes. "I hate this." She growls and walks off to sit in the middle of the grass. She flops down and starts picking at the grass, talking to herself. Michael turns to face Links' disappointed stare.

"It's just a precaution, Link. People cannot know what she is capable of."

"So she can't play a little one-on-one without jeopardising the plan. Come on, Michael, just let us play."

"I watched her for thirty seconds and in that time I was able to gauge her speed, agility and accuracy. A girl like Ella is supposed to be, is not that fast or accurate. Ella needs to appear weak and mild. Not freakishly athletic. It doesn't fit and it draws attention to her."

Are you serious?" Links asks doubtfully.

"Yes. We just can't risk it. I'm sorry." Michael replies. He looks at Links' disappointed face for a moment before turning and walking away. Link heads over to sit with Ella leaving Sucre to wonder what the hell just happened.

* * *

As Link approaches he notices Ella brush her hand through her hair then put her hand on the ground next to her. It appears to be a completely natural movement but something about it seems to unsettle him. He shakes off the feeling and sits on the grass next to her.

"I'm sorry about Michael." Link apologises. "He is desperate to get us out of here and he goes a little overboard sometimes. I mean what harm can a game of one-on-one do?"

"A lot of harm." Ella concedes, still picking at the grass between them. "He's right. I have to stay in character every second. No matter where I am there is always someone watching." Ella sits in silence for a few minutes. "How about we go for a walk?"

"Sure." Link replies standing. He offers his hand to Ella and pulls her up off the ground. Link watches her as she stands and catches a glimpse of her left hand as it swings past her left foot. He sees her fingers give her shoe lace a barely perceivable, lightening fast tug, which causes them to loosen slightly. She wraps her arm in his and they begin to walk around the perimeter of the yard. Link wonders what Ella is doing but cannot think of a reason why she would loosen her shoelace and so after a few minutes he disregards what he saw and forgets about it.

"So you think Michael overreacts?" Ella asks as they approach the gate for the second time.

"Sometimes. Like getting himself thrown in prison to bust me out. That was a little overreaction to the situation don't you think?"

"I don't know. I couldn't comment."

"Why not?" Link asks.

"Because I have done some really stupid and dangerous things for my brother. I guess it doesn't matter how old we get or how far away I am from him, I would still give my life to protect him."

"That's one thing we have in common. I would do anything to protect Michael. I have tried everything to get him out of here, but he won't leave."

"That's because he is doing everything he can to save you. Just like you did for him after your mother died."

"You really do know everything about me, don't you?" Link asks, looking into Ella's intense blue eyes.

"And it only makes me want you more." Ella replies and kisses him gently on the cheek. She looks down and sees her shoelace is untied. "Hold up for a minute, Link, I have to tie my shoelace."

She bends down and as she does Link sees her out of the corner of his eye brush her hand over her hair. He turns to watch her and sees her right hand dip to the ground to pick up a lace. Her hand seems to waver there for a moment as her thumb rapidly slides along her index finger next to the shoelace. Her nail touches the ground next to the lace for a split second before she picks up the lace and bringing it in to meet the other one, tying them in a neat bow. She stands and smiles at Link, before wrapping her arm in his again. He begins to walk with her and wonders if he really saw her doing something or if he was just imagining it. Ella notices that Link has suddenly become quiet and can faintly hear him grinding his teeth.

"You shouldn't do that." She warns.

"Do what?"

"Grind your teeth." Ella replies. They walk on in silence as Link continues to grind. "You saw something, right?" Ella says, knowing that he did.

"Yeah." Link replies, relieved that Ella brought it up. "You keep touching your hair then touching the ground. I'm hoping it's just a weird tick and you're not doing something dangerous."

"It's not a tick. Sorry." Ella replies as the reach the bleachers. She sits on the lowest step and pats the wood next to her. "Take a seat."

Reluctantly, Link sits beside her, jamming his hands deep into his jacket pockets.

"So what did you see, really?" Ella asks, obviously trying to determine just how much she has to tell him.

Link turns to face her and notices that she has less bobbypins on one side of her head.

"I saw you put your hand to your head, and I'm guessing push a hair pin into the ground. You're missing some on the left."

"Okay. Here goes… So their not hairpins. They are tiny flash-bang explosives. They have a tiny microchip inside that picks up a high frequency signal when you want them to go off. They are my distraction."

"How many have you put out here?" Link asks looking suspiciously at the ground.

"One hundred, maybe more. I keep some in my pocket too, see." She pulls out a handful of tiny black pins and shows them to Link.

"So they remote detonate?" He asks, picking one up tentatively and turning it between his fingers.

"Yeah. So when the time comes to bust out, a signal is transmitted and the whole yard lights up in a deafening roar, providing the ultimate distraction."

"How close do you have to be to send the signal?"

"I'm not going to send the signal, Michael is. He just doesn't know it yet. Their range is about 100ft. But I have activated them from further before. You just need to be close enough to one. Before they explode they replicate the activation signal, causing any others in the vicinity to activate too."

"How are you going to get Michael a device that is capable of transmitting a high-frequency signal without getting caught?"

"It's a surprise. You'll love it, I promise." Ella smiles as she stands again, watching Link frown. "I can't give away all my tricks too early, it ruins my fun." She grabs Link by the hand and pulls him to his feet. "Let's go for another couple of laps. This time I'll let you put some bombs down if you like."

"Sounds like fun. I've always wanted to tip-toe through the land mines with a beautiful girl by my side."

"You are such a sweet talker." Ella laughs and palms him a handful of explosive hairpins.


	14. Chapter 14: Punishing the Milk Thief

CO Bellick opens the gate and allows Ella to pass through. He follows behind her and turns around to locks it.

"You went to a lot of trouble to get that basketball in here, and you hardly played with it?" He comments casually.

"You were watching?" Ella asks pretending to be surprised.

"The boys in the tower needed some supplies. I was passing by and noticed you playing until Scofield called you over."

"Yeah, apparently getting beaten by a girl at basketball affects your reputation in prison." Ella smiles.

"You're pretty good." Bellick compliments Ella, who smiles.

"Thanks. I use to play a bit in high school."

"In competition? I bet you were the best on the court." Bellick continues, sneaking looks at Ella when he thinks she's not looking. Ella turns to face him, stopping him from checking her out and fighting to stop her skin from crawling.

"No. I just played for fun. We lived out of town, so I didn't get to play any team sports when I was growing up. Thanks for the escort." Ella replies as they reach the main gate.

A guard steps out from a booth.

"Good afternoon, Mrs Beaumont-Burrows."

"Harold, please call me Ella. We see each other everyday I think we can dispose with the formalities." Ella replies, smiling sweetly. "Let me guess, assume the position?"

"Yes please Mrs Beaumont-Burrows." Harold says and begins to pat her down, while Bellick watches. He reaches her ankles and feels something on her right leg. "What's this?" He asks, lifting her pant leg up slightly to reveal a silver men's watch on her leg.

"I completely forgot that was there." Ella replies with surprise.

"Can I ask why you have a gentleman's watch on your leg, Mrs Beaumont-Burrows?" Harold enquires, suddenly very serious.

"This is so embarrassing. You are going to think its juvenile." Ella replies, hesitant to give an explanation.

"Were you wearing it this morning when you entered the prison or are you trafficking it out?" Harold begins to interrogate Ella.

"Oh, God no. Nothing like that." She exclaims. "This is so stupid. I moved in to a shared apartment a few nights ago, and my housemate is the biggest milk thief ever. So I decided that if he was going to make me late by taking the last of my milk, I would make him late by taking his watch. I am so embarrassed." She explains, blushing.

"I think we can let that one go, don't you, Harry?" Bellick says.

"Yeah, sure." Harold says catching a wink from Bellick.

"Thank you." Ella replies, still blushing slightly.

"Next time, just mention to the morning duty guard that you have a stolen watch on your ankle and we won't have a problem, okay?" Harold laughs, letting Ella through the gate to the car park.

"I will. Thanks." Ella says and rushes away acting humiliated.

"That's one unusual girl." Harold comments as Bellick signs Ella out for the day.

"Yeah." Bellick agrees, remembering the sweet colour of her blushing cheeks and thinking to himself how he adores her quirky behaviour.

* * *

"No watch today, Mrs Beaumont-Burrows?" The morning guard asks as he finishes patting down Ella.

"Not today. How did you know about that?" Ella asks pretending to still be embarrassed.

"Harry made a note in the sign-out book."

"Oh."

"You can go through, Mrs Beaumont-burrows. And thanks again for the muffins; I didn't get time to have breakfast this morning." The guard says as he buzzes Ella through the gate.

"My pleasure, James. See you later." Ella waves and heads for the administration building, with another guard tailing close behind her.

"Warden Pope would like to have a quick word with you before you see your husband today." The guard informs her as he holds the door open for her to enter the building.

"Thank you. You don't know what he wants to see me about, do you?" She asks as they pass through a set of double doors and head towards the Pope's office.

"Sorry, ma'am. If you will wait here, he will be with you shortly." The guard directs Ella inside the waiting room and leaves.

Ella removes her jacket and sits down at right angles to the office door.

"In trouble with the principle again? You don't strike me as a bad boy." Ella half whispers, not making eye contact with Michael as he sits with his back against the wall, next to the office door.

"Apparently I'm as bad as they come." Michael counters. "Link told me he folded under intense interrogation."

"If that's his story." Ella smiles, remembering how easy it was to get him to confess.

"Yeah. I guess it sounds better than 'she knew because we're both bad at keeping secrets from ex-government trained human lie-detectors'."

"Did you really think you would get away with your little plan?"

"Not for long, but I thought we'd last longer than we did before being found out. What are you doing here?" Michael asks.

"Not sure, but I think the Pope's gonna tell me they have set a new date for the execution. How about you? It seems every time I'm called to the principles office, you're already here."

"Finishing the Taj. His anniversary is coming up and I've been reinforcing it while he puts the filler on the walls."

"Nice gig if you can get it. I need to ask you a question."

"What is it?"

"The watch, can you put it back together?"

"I can try. Why?" Michael asks, his curiosity peaking.

"I have a replica of the Romedi you had when you were caught and I need to swap yours for mine."

"What's so good about yours?" Michael enquires.

"Mine is the detonator to the explosives I have placed around the prison as a distraction during the escape."

"Jesus. How do you get these things in here?" Michael asks, surprised at how easily Ella has smuggled in a number of weapons.

"I definitely don't hide them anywhere, so don't get any ideas." Ella pulls a face. "In plain site, Mikey. I'll find a way to trade the watches in three days. So make sure you have yours on you, okay?"

"Okay."

"By the way, Link's getting a new tattoo tomorrow. I love a man with tattoos and he's lacking a vital one."

"What? Link wants you to give him a tattoo?"

"Technically, no. But he's gonna need a map to get out of here and this is the best way." Ella looks into Michaels shocked face. "I promise he won't feel a thing. I have the needle with me today, completely aseptic and some anaesthetic. All I need is some ink."

"You can't just give him a tatt if he doesn't want one?"

"Sure I can. I've taken body art classes." Ella replies, dismissively, completely ignoring Michaels' point. "So can you get the ink or what?"

"Yeah. You're cutting it fine though. I'll have a hard time finding some before tomorrow morning. And I don't know how I'm gonna get it to him."

"I'm sure you'll find a way. You're very clever." Ella teases.

"I don't know. I need more time to think." Michael complains.

"Fine. I knew you'd think of this eventually but I'll just tell you instead. Sucres' cousin could provide a gift in Link's laundry in the morning. That's the easiest way, don't you think?"

"Yes. How do you know Sucre's cousin does the laundry?"

"It's my job to know everything about the players, which includes everything about their families. You hired me because I'm the best, and to be the best you have to be thorough."

"Which you are proving to be."

"It'll be tasteful, I promise." Ella remarks, just as the office door opens.

"Mrs Beaumont-Burrows, would you come in please." The warden requests, holding the door open for Ella. As she walks past she bends down and gives Michael a kiss on the cheek.

"It was good seeing you again, Michael." Ella comments before disappearing inside the office.

"I'll be with you in five minutes." The Pope remarks before following her inside and closing the door behind him.


	15. Chapter 15: Ink the Sink

Ella is escorted down a familiar dank corridor to Lincolns' cell. Drips of water fall from the ceiling every few metres.

"You might want to do something about that." She says conversationally pointing to a crack in the ceiling. "It's always a bad sign when it's raining inside as well as outside."

"I'll make a note of it at the next staff meeting." CO Hank Graham replies sarcastically.

They continue to walk in silence listening to the echoes of the thunder roll through the corridors, bouncing off the stained grey walls. As Ella reaches Link's cell door and waits for the guard to open the door for her, she wonders why everyone is in such a bad mood today, first the Pope and now his CO's. Her train of thought is interrupted by the all too familiar sound of Lincolns' cell door being forced open. She steps inside and as the door screeches closed behind her, Link moves from the far wall and plonks himself on the top end of the bed.

"You're late." Link growls from the end of his bed.

"Sorry, Mr Burrows, please don't give me a tardy, I was in the principles' office." Ella replies, and is suddenly annoyed by her own sarcastic tone. "Sorry. Everyone is on edge today for some reason and it's rubbing off on me. I had to see the Pope."

"What did he want?" Link asks gruffly.

"To inform me of your brand-spanking new execution date." Ella replies, throwing herself on the end of the bed and toppling over, allowing her head to rest in Links' lap. She riffles through her jacket pocket and produces two lolly pops. She hands Lincoln the orange one and puts the red one in her mouth.

"How do you get these in here?" Link asks, eyeballing the lollypop stick suspiciously. "And more to the point, what's in these ones? More sedative darts?"

"Actually no. Did something arrive in your laundry this morning?" Ella replies, looking up at the ceiling.

"Yeah. It's a bottle of black ink. What do you need it for?" Link asks, his suspicions rising.

"You're not going to like this, so why don't we just sit in silence for a while and eat our lolly pops, then I'll explain everything." Ella responds, pushing her lolly pop back into her mouth.

"If I'm not going to like it, just tell me." Link demands.

"Uh Nah." Ella replies shaking her head. "Eat the lolly pop, firscht." She lisps with her mouth still full of red.

Link stares Ella in the eye but she just looks past him into space, peacefully enjoying her lolly pop. Link sighs in defeat and finally puts the lolly pop in his mouth and begins to suck in silence. After a few minutes he bites off the last of the candy and hands the stick to Ella. She finishes hers and stands up. Link begins to feel woozy and his vision starts to blur. He tries to speak but his words are slurred and muffled in his uncooperative mouth.

"Whatsch happening? What did you do to me?" He mumbles as he topples over onto his side.

"Oh, Link. I'm really sorry. I had to drug you. Don't worry it's only a mild sedative you'll be fine in half an hour, I promise."

"Why?" He asks, his eyes becoming black pools of growing fear.

"I need to give you a map so you can escape when the time comes and not lose the way." Ella explains in an apologetic tone. In Lincolns' foggy state, he takes a few moments to realise what the bottle of ink is for.

"No. Pleasch. There hasch to be another way." He pleads.

"I'm sorry. Look the quicker we get started the sooner it's done." Ella replies, twisting the ends off the lolly pop sticks. She tips them both upside down carefully in her palm to reveal two minute needles, one filled with clear fluid, the other empty. She straddles Links' limp body, traps his arms under her lower body. She manoeuvres him using her legs until his right upper arm is directly in front of her and sticks the first needle into his arm.

"What are you doing? My arm feelsch numb." Link tries to cry out.

"Just relax. I promise you won't feel anything from now on." Ella replies as Link falls unconscious. She half turns and runs her hand under the pillow, finally producing the bottle of ink. She draws up a small amount, wipes the tip of the needle and rapidly begins to prick Links skin.

* * *

Link wakes up to find his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. He tries to push himself upright, but starts to fall back. Ella grabs his arm and props him up, then takes a seat next to him. He sits quietly for a few moments running his tongue around his mouth, trying to get rid of the feeling of fur on his teeth and tongue. Ella hands him a plastic cup of water which he gulps down, the cool water refreshing his senses.

"I was worried. You should have been awake ten minutes ago. Aren't they feeding you enough?" Ella asks, trying to steer the conversation.

"Why did you do that?" Link asks rolling up his sleeve to see a patchy red area already swelling slightly.

"I knew you wouldn't let me ink you, so I had to knock you out."

"But why did you give me a tattoo?" Link asks, disappointment, anger and hurt taking turns in his eyes.

"I couldn't trust that if I gave you a map that it wouldn't be discovered in a search. I truly am sorry. I'll tell Doctor Tancredi to come check on you tonight. She'll put some disinfectant on it and bandage it up for you. Just try not to poke at it."

"It's starting to ache." Link grumbles.

"It's going to get worse." Ella says, pulling Links' hand away from the red area on his arm. "Please try not to poke at it. The detail is very fine and if you agitate it, the area might scab up and the detail will be lost. How are you feeling?"

"A bit fuzzy." He replies, closing his eyes.

"It'll pass soon. I'll get you another glass of water." Ella jumps up and takes the cup from Links' hand.

"I know you're mad at me…" She begins.

"Mad? I'm furious and after this sedative wears off, I might just show you how much." Link rumbles, his eyes still closed. Ella hands him the water and as she does he grabs her arm in a vice grip. His eyes fly open and he pulls her close, looking into her blue and yellow eyes. Anger and fury spark across his face for a moment. His features soften and he kisses her gently on the lips before letting go of her arm.

She stands up and looks shocked, her hand subconsciously rubs the reddened area where he grabbed her, confusion covering her face.

"Whatever it take." Link replies calmly and takes another sip of his water before closing his eyes again.


	16. Chapter 16: Butterflies and Goose Bumps

Ella sits on the opposite end of Link's bed watching him over the top of her knees. His eyes are closed and his head rests against the wall. She concentrates on his breathing as the shadows stretch in the dimming light and the last of the suns' rays disappear over the prison wall, blocking out the light in the cell. In the failing grey light she can make out his chest rising and falling and hear his breathe whistling quietly through his nostrils.

"Are you ever going to talk to me again?" She asks, no longer able to stand the silence of the past few hours. His hand slides out from his side and moves to rest on top of her bare foot. He tilts his head towards her and looks at her with sad eyes.

"I am sorry, Link. Please forgive me." Ella pleads with sincerity.

"I do forgive you, Ella." He takes a deep breath in before continuing. "I knew what you were going to do." He confesses as he slides his other hand behind him between the thin mattress and wall, pulling out a slip of paper. He hands it to Ella, who can barely make out a warning in Michaels' handwriting in the fading light. They sit in silence again for what feels like an eternity to Ella. Finally she can't stand it any longer.

"I'm going to go." She says and swings her legs off the bed and starts to put her shoes on. She stands and moves across to stand in front of Link. She leans in to kiss him goodbye on the forehead, but he moves and catches her on the lips. His warmth spreads through her lips and into her mouth as he pushes his tongue past her soft pink lips and gently massages her tongue with his. He puts a hand firmly on the back of her neck and pulls her forward, forcing her to kneel on the bed between his legs. Slowly he leans into her and turns his body, twisting Ella with him and gently pushing her back onto the bed with his weight. She feels his chest heavy on hers and feels his hand slide down to her hip and slip under her shirt. His other hand cups the base of her neck, carefully cradling her head. He kisses her neck and she feels his warm breath on her skin, giving her goose bumps. Her stomach twists into nervous knots as he repositions himself and slides his legs between hers. She feels his pelvis pushing into hers and her heart begins to race. She tries to pull away, but he kisses her again pushing her further into the mattress under his weight. He kisses her cheek and neck and softly tugs on her earlobe with his lips.

"Not this time." He breathes into her ear. "You always pull away first, but this time it's my turn." He moves to stare into her blue eyes. "And just so you know, I don't intend to pull away." Her pupils grow large and she raises her hands to try to push him away, but he wraps his hands firmly around her wrists and pushes them down beside her head, pinning her. He kisses her neck and moves down to her collarbone. He lets her hands go and she strokes the back of his head as he moves further down her body, kissing her chest and cupping her breast in one hand while undoing her shirt buttons with the other. He sits up to undo the last button, pushes her shirt off her shoulders, then straights up and pulls his grey t-shirt off over his head. Ella sits up, her shirt falling off behind her and runs her hands down his abdomen until they reach his waist. She runs her index finger inside his waistband until she reaches the button and zipper. Within a second her nimble fingers have unbuttoned his pants and she pulls him back down on top of her. His warm skin presses against hers, spreading heat through her breasts and stomach. Her hands run along his muscular back, pulling him in closer, as he kisses her again and again. He tilts to one side and slides a hand down, undoing her pants. He slides his hand around to rest under her lower back, his palm against her skin, and pushes her pants down towards her knees. She lifts her feet and lets him pull her pants off and throw them against the far wall. He sits up again, pulling his own pants off and then pulls Ella up to kiss him. He reaches around her back and slides his hand under her bra, feeling the scars on her skin. With a flick of his fingers he unclips her bra and pulls it down off her shoulders. He leans forward again, pushing Ella back down onto the bed, and he begins to kiss down her neck towards her chest. He cups her left breast in one hand and kisses her chest. He feels her body tense in pleasure beneath him as he continues to kiss her body. She pulls him up towards her face and leans forward to kiss him on the lips. He runs a hand inside her thigh moving higher causing the knots in Ella's stomach to tighten. She grabs his hand and stops him.

"I've haven't… I mean I have but I've never…" She stumbles, not able to form the words.

"You've never what?" He whispers as he lovingly pushes her hair back from her face, looking deep into her eyes. He can see her holding something back and silently his eyes pleads with her to tell him what it is. Ella struggles to find the words and gives up.

"Go slow, okay?" She says instead.

"Okay." Link breathes and kisses her passionately again.


	17. Chapter 17:Obituaries & Hostile Goodbyes

Ella wakes with as start and at first does not know where she is. She sits upright and looks around her. In the darkness she can see the uneven blue stone walls closing in around her, and for a moment she panics, thinking she is back there. She tries to calm herself and after a long moment of concentrating on her breathing she realises where she is. She feels Link's warm naked body lying next to her, his breathing even and slow as he sleeps. She carefully removes the scratchy grey prison blanket covering her body and stands, fumbling in the dark for her clothes. She pulls her shoes on and tiptoes over to the cell door. She knees and whispers through the small slot in the door.

"Hello. Is there anyone there?"

"It's Harry. Do you want to come out?"

"Yes please."

"Where's Link?" Harry starts, preparing to follow the usual procedure of having Lincoln line up against the back wall before opening the door.

"He's asleep. I don't want to wake him. Please could you open the door?" Ella whispers.

"I'd be asleep too, after that marathon." Harry comments. Ella groans to herself, wondering how she could be so stupid and reckless.

After a minute of debate he decides to forgo the procedure and as quietly as he can, locates the key and turns the lock. He pulls the door halfway open and Ella slips through into the corridor. He gently pushes it closes again and locks it shut. He turns to face Ella, who is looking at her watch.

"Midnight. I didn't realise how late it is. I really have to go."

"I'll escort you out, Ella." Harry offers and begins to lead her down the corridor towards the exit. The fluorescent lights flicker over head as they pass through the gate and head up the stairs. As they reach the top of the stairs and Harry fiddles with his keys to the next gate Ella notices him carrying a newspaper under his arm.

"It that today's paper?" She enquires.

"Yes. Would you like it?"

"Yes please, if you're finished with it."

"Here you go." He hands the paper to Ella and motions for her to pass through the open gate. They walk the rest of the way in silence, Ella secretly desperate to open the paper. At the main gate she is searched and Harry signs her out for the night.

"Thank you." She says and makes a bee line for her car. She jumps inside and pulls the paper open to the obituaries pages. She puts the key in the ignition and switches on the internal light. She scans the notices, searching for something. She finishes the last page and screws the paper up in anger.

"SHIT!" She exclaims, throwing the paper onto the passenger seat and turning over the engine. She slams the car into gear and speeds out of the car park, leaving a cloud of dust hanging in the icy night air.

* * *

Michael drums his fingers on the white visitation room table, watching the door intently. Ella enters the room and rushes over to sit opposite Michael. Her face is draw and tired, her eyes give away her exhaustion.

"Hey." Michael says, not knowing what to expect from the unscheduled meeting.

"Hey. I'm going to be out of town for a few days. Hopefully I'll be back in two days but it may be longer." Ella explains as fast as she can speak, jumping right to the point.

"How long?" Michael asks, beginning to worry.

"I don't know. Look I don't want to leave you in the lurch like this but something has come up and I have to go, okay." Ella spins in her seat, preparing to head for the door. Michael grabs her by the wrist, pinning her hand to the table.

"You need to be here, so it's not okay. Unless you give me an amazing, mind-blowing excuse, you're not going anywhere."

"One- You can't stop me. Two- Take your hand off me and if you touch me again like that I'll kill your family and make you watch. Three- It's none of your business so piss off." Ella replies reefing her hand away from Michael's tightening grip. Ella stands to leave.

"Ella, please. If it's about Lincoln, I need to know."

"Shit." Ella exclaims and sits back down opposite Michael. "It's nothing to do with you guys."

"Tell me what it's about? I deserve to know because it's interfering with our plans." Michael demands, pretending he is not afraid of her.

"Damn it. Okay. Okay. Jack got himself jammed up. I need to go get him back. It'll take a day or two to located him for extraction. It's bad, Michael. They have him confused with someone else and they're gonna kill him if I don't stop them. If they haven't already."

"Jesus. Where is he?"

"Cuba. I have to go I have to get to my ride." Ella leans forward and kisses Michael on the forehead. "Say goodbye to Link."

"Ella. Who do they think he is?" Michael asks.

"Someone bad. And they'll stop at nothing to find out who else he's tied up with."

"They think he's you, don't they?" Michael asks, finally laying his cards on the table.

"Yes. The think he's the Raven. How long have you know?" She asks, surprised that Michael worked it out when no one else had.

"Since the car ride and the chupa chups."

"So you did you're homework on us and caught us out on the tiniest detail. You're good." Ella strains to smile before standing and rushing out the door.

"I know." Michael calls after her.

, trying to joke though his expression cannot hide his concern for her safety; and his own.


	18. Chapter 18: Jungle Fever

FFCh18:

Ella leans back into the black leather seats, resting her head against the glass as she watches the ocean disappear beneath her in the darkness. The sound of the helicopter blades slicing the icy night air creates a familiar dull roar, penetrating Ella's headset and drowning out the radio chatter of the pilot. Ella cannot help but run through all the ways the situation could go bad. They must breach the permitter of the facility without detection or Jack would be dead within minutes. She sighs as she counts the number of soldiers that have to die at her hands.

"Raven. We have reached the coordinates." The pilots' voice crackles through the headset, raising Ella from her morbid thoughts. She looks across at the camouflaged faces of her extraction team.

"Prepare for a black water helo drop." She orders, giving her gear one final check as her men do that same with theirs. She nods to her second in command before standing, pulling a black respiratory over her face and wrenching the side door open. The pilot lowers the helicopter as low as he dares and signals for Ella to step out. Freezing air rushes past her as she drops fifty feet into the black water below. She hits the surface and is immediately enveloped by the black ice water. The strong current pulls at her body, turning her around, and causing her to lose her bearings. For an instant a floodlight from the helicopter passes over the water and Ella kicks towards the surface. As she breaks through the water she looks around and sees the half moon reflecting off the wet black surface of the rubber dingy. Quickly she swims towards it, counting off the five men in her team as they pull her aboard. Before she can catch her breath a paddle is thrust into her cramping hands and together they begin to paddle north, towards land.

Bullets buzz violently overheard as Ella lies crouched beside Jack in the darkness. Above the sound of her heart pounding in her ears she can hear Jacks' laboured breathing and she is overwhelmed with anger once more. It had taken two days to track Jacks' movements, but using her connections she had finally found him in a high security facility hidden deep in the jungle. They had tortured him to the point of death then dumped him back into his stony cell to recover, before they dragged him out and tortured him again. Ella turns her attention to Jack and can see by his wounds what techniques they had employed in an attempt to drag information from him. The burns on his chest where still bubbling up from where they had placed the electrodes. The skin on his back and feet have been flayed, and are a weeping, bloody mess of torn flesh, so painful that even now he whimpers in agony as they hide in the cool, damp undergrowth. Ella looks into Jacks' eyes, and knows immediately by the defeated, broken glaze that stares back at her that he had given them what they wanted. He had turned her in, but still, looking at his broken body, listening to his gurgling breath, she couldn't hate him for it. She had warned him, but he wasn't as strong or as trained as her, and he never would be. He had always treated it as a game and now he had paid the price. They had repeated pushed his head underwater, causing him to swallow water, and pneumonia had already taken hold, his body is battered and broken and to drag him through the jungle in this condition will be death for him and suicide for her. Ella cannot bear to move him again but they will soon be discovered. Finally she decides and whistles a short signal into the gloom ahead. Her call receives only one reply.

"Jack, can you hear me?" Ella asks, concern breaking her usually voice. He doesn't reply and continues to stare past her ear.

"It's time to take a stand. Stay down, Jack. Whatever you do, stay down." Ella pleads before turning and making a dash for nearby cover. As she turns to check on Jack and assess her new vantage point she sees Jack step out from the cover of the undergrowth. Ahead the dark figure of a man with a machine gun turns to face the movement and takes aim at Jack through his night scope. Ella calls out to Jack but he doesn't respond.  
Dread sinks in the pit of Ella's stomach and seems to slow her down as she breaks from her cover and hurls herself into Jack's mangled frame. A shot rings out as Jack and Ella tumble to the ground in a sprawling mass of limbs. The barrage of bullets ceases and the air becomes silent and completely still.


	19. Chapter 19: Butting Heads

FFCh 19:

Lincoln paces impatiently along the fence, waiting for Michael to join him on the other side. Finally he sees Michael and Sucre enter the exercise yard. They start to casually lap the yard in the opposite direction, taking the long way to where Link is waiting for them. Link tries to relax, not wanting to raise the guards' attention before he can get the information he wants from Michael. Finally they approach and Link can no longer contain his desperation.

"Where is she, Michael?"

"I've already told you all I know. She said she would be gone for a few days, that's all." Michael replies coolly, leaning against the fence.

It's been more than a few days. A few days is two or three, and she's been gone for a week." Link rumbles, his fingers tightening around the fence wire so hard they turn white. "Tell me why she left? Did she tell you she was going to do something dangerous? I know you know something. Tell me." Link demands, raising his voice.

"Calm down. The guards are looking." Michael replies turning to face his brother, reluctant to tell him the details of Ella's disappearance.

"Tell me." Link insists, his voice becoming a deep growl.

Finally Michael decides he can no longer keep holding back without jeopardizing Links' trust in him.

"Her brother was in trouble. She went to Cuba to find him." He explains, trying to mask the seriousness of Ella's mission.

"What kind of trouble?" Link pushes, knowing by Michaels' cagey replies there is more to the story. "Tell me, now!" He snarls.

"Someone caught him, I don't know who. Ella told me they had him confused with someone really bad and that they might hurt him, so she went to Cuba to get him out."

"And she told you she would only be a few days?"

"Yes." Michael replies, knowing Link is putting the pieces together, and what conclusion he will reach.

"What if she's hurt, Michael? What if she's in trouble?"

"Then there is nothing we can do for her, and we should start worrying about the trouble we're in." Michael answers, getting angry at Links lack of concern for their own safety. Links' expression and behaviour arouses Michaels' suspicion. "What's going on between you two?"

"Nothing is going on." Link snaps.

"Good." Michael replies. "Keep it that way. She's only here to help us escape and you're more worried about her safety than your own. You on death row or have you forgotten."

"Ella is a good person, Michael. And she puts herself in harms way for us everyday. I don't understand how you can be so cold, she's been missing for a week for Christ's sake."

"She's not a good person, Link. Open your eyes. She's dangerous that why I hired her, and if she can't take care of herself, then we don't need her to help us escape. I'm glad she's out of the equation. I'll get us out of here." Michael barks before storming off, furious that Link doesn't seem to realize it's their lives he should be concerned about.


	20. Chapter 20: Jungle Bungle

Jack awakes to find himself lying across Ella's body. His head pounds as he slowly pushes himself into a sitting position. His shoulder feels wet and he absent-mindedly brushes it with his hand as he props himself against a mound of dirt and leaves at the base of the tree and breathes deeply, beginning to calm himself. His eyes drop as his head relaxes forward and through his bleary eyes he sees his hand stained with blood. He immediately panics, checking his shoulder and chest urgently to find the source of the blood. He looks across at Ella's still unconscious body and realises the blood is not his. He drags his battered body to her side and sees blood pooling under her left shoulder. He struggles to lift her rag doll body and as he does he sees blood pulsing from the gaping exit wound where the bullet exited her arm. With sudden urgency he roughly flips her body over and pulls the belt from her waist. He loops it around her upper arm and pulls as tightly as he can, using it to stop the river of blood pulsing from Ella's radial artery. Old memories come flooding back, as if from another life and Jack remembers that it only takes a minute or so for someone to bleed out from the radial artery. His heart races as he tries to figure out how long he was unconscious for. He looks at the pool of blood and decides it must have been only seconds, but those seconds could mean life or death for his sister. He starts to calculate, whispering to himself.

"Eight litres of blood per minute. If I was unconscious for five seconds, and had the tourniquet on within thirty seconds, she has only four…"

Ella's eyes flutter and slowly open. For a moment she appears not to register her surroundings but as the pain starts to rise, her eyes begin to focus and finally settle on Jack's face.

"I told you the only time I have ever been shot was while stopping someone else from doing something stupid." She whispers, a weak crooked smile passing across her face before the tidal wave of pain engulfs her senses and renders her unconscious again.

In the distance behind him, Jack hears shouting and jumps in fright as a bloodied man appears in front of him in full camouflage, body armour and face paint.

"We have to get out of here now." The man growls, pulling Ella's limp body up by the arm and draping her across his shoulder. "The LZ is only four clicks from here. Time to hustle." He thrusts a pistol into Jack's hand before disappearing with Ella into the bushes ahead.

"Wait." Jack yells, mustering all his strength and rising to his feet. Jack is stunned as recognition sets in. "Charlie? I thought you were a dentist?"

"Keep up if you want to live." Charlie's gruff voice calls back to him from the brush ahead. The pain in Jack's feet sends new adrenaline coursing through his veins and he rushes after the voice. He grits his teeth against the pain, swearing to God that he will never let Ella out of his sight again if they survive, as the voices of their pursuers fade into the jungle behind him.


	21. Chapter 21: Delirium

Ch 21:

Ella feels a warm hand brush against her face and turns into the palm as it passes across her moist cheek. Her eyes flutter open and she sees the blurry outline of a man sitting beside her on the bed in the darkness. She reaches up and pulls the man's face towards hers. She kisses him passionately and his weight pushes her back into the pillow as she gently pulls him down to meet her cracked lips. Her eyes cannot focus and her breathing is short. Her heart pounds in her chest as he kisses her neck, shoulders and chest. Ella's head spins as her body turns in ecstasy responding to the light touch of his hands.

Suddenly, light floods her eyes, causing her to shut them tight. Slowly she opens them again, shielding them from direct light with her hand, as her eyes adjust to the brightness. She looks around and sees Jack framed by the doorway.

"Where is he?" Ella asks, confused.

"Where's who?" Jack replies. Ella props herself up and looks around the room, searching for the man that kissed her so passionately just seconds before, but the room is empty.

"There's no one here." She whispers.

"Nope. You're all alone. You must have been dreaming."

"Some dream." Ella sighs and collapses back into the damp pillows. "I feel like shit." She groans.

"Lucky. Cos you look like it too." Jack laughs, all of the tension of the past few days dropping away from his face, replaced by relief.

"Thanks." Ella replies, pulls a pillow from underneath her and attempts to throw it across the room at Jack. It falls short as the pain in her arm stops her in mid movement. "Argh… Bugger it!" She cries as the pain shoots up her arm and through her shoulder.

"Idiot. You got shot, remember?"

"Who's the idiot? I'm not the one who decided to volunteer to be the duck in a jungle shooting range."

"Okay, okay." Jack concedes. "Thanks by the way."

"I'd say no problem, but by the looks of the bloody bandage on my arm I think it was. Anyway, I'm more like the bad ass turned hero, than the idiot."

"What? So I'm a duck and you're a hero? Unfair."

"When you save me you can choose, but until that frosty day in Hell, you're the duck and I am the HERO!"

"Well, hero. Try not to overexert yourself. Your heart stopped beating twice in the chopper and you've been unconscious for two days. Doc is scheduled to stop by in two hours, so until then GO BACK TO SLEEP!" Jack demands as he picks the pillow and lightly tosses it onto Ella's face.

"Two days." Ella replies, pushing the pillow behind her and propping herself up against the bed head. "I feel fine. I don't need anymore sleep. What I do need is my clothes." Ella says as she swings her legs out of bed and wobbles as she stands.

"Easy." Jack replies, diving to steady her by the arm.

"I'm fine Jack. Just getting my bearings after being vertical for so long. Let go." She pulls away from him and starts to undress. "Now get out so I can change."

"Ella please, just wait until Doc has cleared you."

"I can't. I told Michael I would only be away for three days and you've told me it's been seven. I have to put in an appearance at the prison. People will be getting suspicious."

"Can't that wait until Doc's seen you?" Jack pleads.

"You know it can't. Now get out." Ella pushes Jack out the door and closes it behind him.


	22. Chapter 22: Intimidation

FFCh22:

Jack sits at the table staring at the menacing man opposite him, waiting for Ella to return.

"I let you cap my teeth." Jack says, watching Charlie as he unnervingly sharpens his field knife.

"Are you saying I didn't do a good job? Cos I did a damn fine job." Charlie replies leaning across the table with his knife. "Check out those pearly whites. Absolutely perfect work." He says as Jack stares at the knife now centimetres from his face. He catches a glimpse of his teeth in the steely reflection, just before Charlie leans back in his chair and begins to sharpen the knife once again.

"Okay. So they have lasted longer than my previous ones, but you're a … What are you?"

"I prefer mercenary. A Gun for hire, if you want to be dramatic. But feel free not to be." Charlie replies, attempting to intimidate Jack.

"And you do a bit of dentistry in you're spare time?" Jack asks, using sarcasm to hide the fact that Charlie is succeeding in intimidating him.

"Hey. I'm not some nutso suicidal dentist wannabe who feels up his patients while their under anaesthesia because he can't get a date. I was a fully qualified dentist, graduated top of my class, before I was recruited by the government for special ops." Charlie replies becoming agitated.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to offend." Jack says, backing off. "It was great dentistry. Thanks again."

"No problem." Charlie says and begins to dismantle a desert eagle for cleaning. After five minutes silence Jack tries to strike up another conversation, hoping to pass the time.

"So Charlie…" He begins.

"Yeah."

"How much does someone like you cost? I mean how much money is Ella bringing back from the bank today?" Jack asks coyly.

"A lot. A job where only three people make it back alive costs a hell of a lot, and payment is made in advance."

"If you've already been paid what are you waiting around here for?" Jack asks, suddenly confused as to Charlie's motives.

"Your sister's smokin' hot, if you haven't noticed." Charlie looks up and nods his head in the direction of a photo of Ella on a shelf.

"I've noticed." Jack replies turning slightly to see a photo of Ella standing of the deck of a yacht, her hair tangling in the breeze. "So what? That doesn't explain why you're still here."

"Just in case she wants to thank me in person for carrying her out of that jungle. If you get my drift." Charlie gives a barely perceivable wink before returning his concentration to his display of weaponry spread out on the kitchen table.

"Ah…" Jack nods, slightly disturbed. "Tell me, Charlie, in all the years you've pretended to be Ella's dentist, have you ever known her to thank anyone personally?"

"No." Charlie replies not looking up from his cleaning. After a minute Charlie speaks again. "But I've never seen her so whacked out with fever and morphine that she got friendly with a pillow either. So I figure there's always a first time for everything."

"Ah." Charlie replies not knowing how else he can discourage Charlie from waiting for Ella to return. In the end he resigns and stands to leave. "I'm going upstairs. Try not to kill anyone until Ella gets back."

Charlie grunts in reply as Jack retreats to his room to escape from Charlie's insane logic. After all Ella brought him in, she can throw him out.


	23. Chapter 23: Blood and Betrayal

Ch 23:

Ella looks out of the tinted windows of her black SUV before stepping out into the deserted parking lot outside the bluestone walls of Fox River Prison. It seems like an eternity since her feet last hit the pavement outside the tall razor wire walls and she rushes to pull her black leather jacket on, eager to see Lincoln again. As she pulls the jacket over her left arm she feels sharp pain and a sudden rush of heat. She recognises this feeling all too well and immediately knows she has torn her stitches. The pain is excruciating and causes her knees to buckle underneath her and to fall back against the car. The bandage begins to feel moist and cold as the winter breeze penetrates her clothing, cooling her blood as it flows from the freshly opened wound and soaks the bandage around it.

Ella decides this must be a flying visit, as she stuffs some tissues from her pocket inside the left sleeve of her jacket to catch the trickle of blood that is already flowing down her arm.

Ella takes a deep breath, stands and rushes towards the entrance of the prison. The guard on duty searches her, and Ella fights the urge to cry out as his rough hands pass over her shoulder. Finally he clears her and another guard appears to escort her into the prison. Her head spins and she feels breathless as she is escorted down the long corridor and lead to the visitation room, where she is told Lincoln is having a meeting with his legal council.

As they approach the door the guard receives a call on his radio. He apologises and directs Ella to go straight to the visitation room, before turning and rushing off in the opposite direction. Feeling too weak to do anything else she follows his instructions and walks the last fifty metres to the door alone. She puts her hand on the doorknob and as she is about to enter the room, she stops and looks through the glass window in the door. Directly across the room she sees Lincoln sitting across the table from Veronica. The memory of the last time she saw him comes flooding back and for a moment she smiles to herself. She starts to turn the handle while still watching them, and suddenly stops. She sees Lincoln reach across the table and place his hand on Veronicas'. Veronica pushes her hair from her tear-stained face with her other hand while he continues to talk to her. Ella's smile fades, her heart begins to pound in her chest and she exhales hard as she watches the scene unfolding before her.

Lincoln reaches across, tilts Veronica's face up, and looks directly into her eyes. Ella watches Lincoln's mouth as he finishes talking and Veronica intertwines her fingers in his. Link leans in and kisses away the tears on Veronica's cheek before passionately kissing her on the lips.

Ella turns away and steps back from the door. Her breathing becomes difficult, and her vision blurs. She stumbles and falls hard against the wall, hitting her left shoulder. The pain flows through her body, and tears begin to fall as she slides to the floor and passes out.


	24. Chapter 231: Emotional Blackmail

FFCh23.1

Inside the visitation room Lincoln pulls his hand away from Veronica's.

I'm sorry. This feels wrong." Link apologises.

"You're not doing anything wrong, Link. Ella's not your wife." Veronica moves in to kiss him but he pushes her away.

"V please stop."

Veronica reaches across the table and puts her hand on Lincolns' cheek.

"Why? Lincoln, I've loved you all my life and I want to be with you. I know you love me too."

Link thinks about Veronica's last statement, sighs and sits back down at the table.

"If you loved me, you wouldn't have left me when things got messy. You wouldn't have gotten engaged to someone else." Link turns away from Veronica and looks out the window. "I just can't handle this right now. Not when Ella has been missing for so long."

"I'm here now, and things are about as messy as they can get." Veronica protests. She reaches out and pulls Link back to face her. "Why do you care about her so much? She just a means to an end, that's all. I've been talking to Michael and he's worried that you have formed an attachment to this woman. I'm worried about you too."

"Why? What does it matter if I care about Ella? She's a friend, and like I told Michael, she risks herself for us everyday, she deserves our respect."

"She's not a friend!" Veronica replies raising her voice in annoyance. "Michael pays her to pretend. She doesn't care about you at all. You're buying in to the lies, Lincoln. Don't be fooled."

"I'm not. You don't understand because you don't know her. And Michael isn't paying her. She's risking her life for us for nothing."

"I don't want to know her. Don't you understand? People like her, with her skills, her ability to lie, they are bad people. She is a bad person, Link. She's probably a murderer too."

"I'm sure she is." Link replies shocking Veronica into silence. "But I know she's trying to make up for that. Bad people don't try to do make up for the things they've done. They don't lose any sleep over it, but I know for a fact Ella does."

"Lincoln…" Veronica begins, sitting across the table from Lincoln.

"Just drop it, V." Lincoln growls. "I'm sorry. I'm just tired, I haven't slept recently."

"I care deeply about you, Link. I've given up my career, my life and my fiancée to be by your side through all this. You don't seem to want to see how much I've given up for you. I've done it because I love you and I won't lose you. Not to justice or to another woman. I want you in my life and I'm fighting for you with everything I have. I know you love me and I'm never giving up on us." Veronica begins to cry again, tears streaming down her face. Link cannot bear to see her cry so he reaches across the table and puts his hand on hers. He gently tilts her face up and looks into her eyes.

"Am I wrong? Don't you love me anymore?" Veronica whispers, pushing her hair from her face and choking back a sob.

"Of course I do. I'm in love with you Veronica." Link replies and leans across the table to kiss away her tears before kissing her on the lips as her fingers intertwine with his; though in his heart he doesn't know if it's true anymore.


	25. Chapter 24: Mop up

Ch 24

Ella is awakened by sharp pain emanating from her left arm. She can feel someone squeezing and shaking her by the shoulders, making the pain unbearable. She fights against the urge to pass out again and rallies all of her strength. She forces herself to open her eyes and as her eyes focus she sees CO Bellick standing over her looking concerned.

"Ella, can you hear me? Are you alright?" He asks.

A sudden wave of emotion overcomes her and she can no longer control it. She takes a deep breath and weeps.

She looks up into Bellick's eyes, confused. "He said he loves her."

She puts her head in her hands and begins to sob uncontrollably. For a moment Bellick stands there watching her, unsure of what to do. He kneels in front of her and gently lifts her face. He reaches into his pocket, produces a monogrammed handkerchief and wipes the tears away from Ella's blackened eyes. He is shocked by her sickly grey complexion and sees a pool of blood forming where her hand lies limply by her side. Sudden panic washes over him and he pulls Ella to her feet and puts her right arm around his neck. He holds her up and drags her to the nearest door, leaving a trail of blood drops behind. He looks around, checking that no one sees him, before opening the door, pulling Ella through and locking it behind him.

For the second time Ella wakes to find herself in the infirmary. She hears whispered voices coming from across the room, and strains to hear what they are saying.

"She's been shot, Brad. We need to call an ambulance; she needs to go to hospital." Dr Sarah Tancredi's voice carries across the room.

"No police." Ella croaks.

Sarah and Bellick rush over.

"Ella, can you tell me what happened?" Sarah asks.

"I don't… I don't know." Ella replies tears welling in her eyes.

"It's okay." Bellick responds, gently stroking some strands of hair away from her damp forehead.

Ella struggles to move, but collapses back in pain.

"Ella, you were shot in the upper arm. I found this buried in your shoulder." Sarah holds a long bullet in front of Ella's face. Ella looks horrified at the sight of the bloodied bullet and her eyes widen in fear.

"I don't know…" Ella begins to cry. She stares at the bullet as if it can provide the answers she is searching for. "I was walking to my car. I heard a loud sound like a car backfiring and I woke up covering in my own blood." She explains, slowly like she's remembering. "I didn't know what to do. I thought whoever shot me might go after Link next, so I came here." Ella starts to weep loudly, raising her voice with urgency. "Is he alright? Is he okay?" She asks sitting up and looking from Bellick to Sarah.

"I'm sure he's fine. I'll go check for you, just to be sure." Bellick replies, pushing her back down gently.

"I'm going to call the police." Sarah says as she heads towards the phone.

"No, please." Ella begs. "I'm the one who was shot; I should decide how to handle this. If the police get involved, I may never find who did it."

"Ella, you should leave it to the police." Sarah argues.

"Could you just wait until I feel a little better, then you can come with me to make a statement. Please." Ella continues to try to dissuade Sarah. Sarah sees Ella's rising anxiety and decides to wait.

"Okay. I'll wait. You've lost a lot of blood and you need to rest. I'm going to give you a mild sedative. You should stay here and rest." Sarah reaches into a cupboard and pulls out a vial. She draws up a small dose and injects it the drip running into the back of Ella's hand.

"Please don't tell anyone I'm here. I don't want anyone to worry." Ella says before falling unconscious again.

"What are you going to do with her?" Bellick asks.

"I'll keep her here until she wakes up again. I'll decide from there." Sarah says and pulls the curtain around Ella's bed, shielding her from sight.

Bellick hurries down the corridor towards the visitation room. As he approaches the door he sees specks of blood trailing into the door he used to get Ella to the infirmary without being seen. He stops and mops up the blood with the same monogrammed handkerchief he had used earlier to wipe away Ella's tears. He works his way backwards towards the visitation door and as he stands and tucks the handkerchief into his uniform pocket he looks through the glass and sees Lincoln kissing his lawyer.

Filled with rage he wrenches open the door and storms across the room.

"George. Get this man back to his cell." He roars, causing Lincoln to pull away from Veronica.

"What did I do? I didn't do anything!" Lincoln protests.

"Officer I demand to know what's going on." Veronica interjects trying to stop Bellick from passing through the wire gate, but Bellick side steps around her. As the guard drags Lincoln through the gate and towards the door Bellick stops them. He grabs Lincoln by the shirt front and leans close to his ear. In his fury he forgets Ella didn't want anyone to know about her condition.

"You're a real son-of-a-bitch, Burrows. While you're wife is being shot, and is bleeding to death, you're here making out with your lawyer girlfriend." He snarls in Lincoln's ear. "Get this piece of trash out of here. Put him in the SHU." Bellick barks and turns on his heel to leave.

"Where's Ella? What's happened to her? I want to see her. Let me go!" Lincoln begins to shout and try to wriggle free from the guard as he drags him out of the room by his restraints and slams the door behind him.

"What's happened to Ella Burrows?" Veronica asks, diving in front of Bellick again, blocking his way.

"You don't say her name." He hisses. "You don't get to say her name! Home wrecking whore!" His voice rises to a roar. He shoves her aside and strides out of the room, with visitors and prisoners alike, looking on.


	26. Chapter 25: Blood Red Strawberries v2

Ch 25:

Slowly Ella begins to regain consciousness. Her head is groggy and through the fog she can hear the deep voice of a man. She fights the anaesthetic and begins to recognise the words she hears.

"… gut you." She hears the curtain being pulled back and she tries not to move as the man moves towards her.

"And who do we have here? Link the Sink's little bitch." She feels a hand run roughly down her face and across her breasts. She fights the urge to leap up and strangle the man, instead she continues to lie still, pretending to be unconscious. She knows she must learn more about the situation before she reacts.

"I think I'll leave her for seconds. I like mine with a bit of fight in 'em and right now I have a craving for strawberries." The man's voice is loud and threatening, and Ella finally realises who he is talking to.

When she is sure his back is turned to her, she glances sideways and sees a tall African-American man standing facing Doctor Tancredi as she huddles in a corner, clasping a scalpel between her shaking hands. Ella can see the fear in Sarah's wide eyes and a bruise flowering on the side of her cheek. She sees the door is closed and all the blinds are drawn around the room, shielding them from being seen by any passers-by.

The man turns his head slightly and Ella finally recognises him, realising just how bad the situation is. As the man turns back away from her again, Ella quietly swings her legs over the far edge of the bed and attempts to stand. She wobbles and nearly collapses with weakness, but she manages to steady herself on the edge of the bed. The movement catches Sarah's eye and attracts her attention. Ella signals for her to look away and pulls the drip out of her hand. She creeps around the bed and across the room until she is a few feet behind the man. Before Ella can get close enough to stop him he begins to approach Sarah. Over the sound of his own voice he doesn't hear Ella shadowing his steps until it's too late.

She plants a foot directly behind his knee cap and forces him to the ground. She follows up with a roundhouse kick, which lands on the side of his head. The force of her steel capped boots sends him toppling to the ground and Ella motions to Sarah to come to her. Sarah hesitates in shock for a moment before running past the man. Ella pushes Sarah behind herself.

"Get out." Ella orders her.

"I can't. The door is locked and he has the key." Sarah replies with dread in her voice.

"Nice of your father to reinforce the infirmary to keep you safe. Now we can't get out and no one can get in to help us." Ella comments as she tries the door for herself. "Stay behind me." Ella says, not taking her eyes off the massive man, who is starting to come around. "Don't let him get you in a corner."

Sarah takes a few steps back in terror as the man stands and faces them.

"Hello TeeJay." Ella says as TeeJay prepares to lunge at her. His weight shifts giving Ella plenty of warning, allowing her to easily move out of the way. He continues to dive and swing at her, but he moves slower than Ella and she easily out manoeuvres him for the next few minutes.

A sudden wave of exhaustion hits Ella, and without realising it she allows TeeJay to separate her from Sarah. He turns away from Ella and grabs Sarah by the throat. He turns, putting Sarah between them, gasping desperately for breath. Ella's arm begins to throb, her vision becomes blurry and she realises she cannot continue to dodge his attacks. She must put him down once and for all.

"Let her go." Ella demands.

"Yeah right." TeeJay snarls.

* * *

"Scofield, let's go, on the double. You have another date with the Doc." A guard barks into the cell, his booming voice echoing in the tiny space.

Michael's eyes cut to Sucre, who is leaning against the wall opposite where he sits on his bunk bed, giving him a questioning look.

"Guess I'm just a lucky guy." Michael shrugs as he stands up from his lumpy prison issue mattress and steps out of his small cell.

"What? You need an invitation? Move it." The guard orders, pushing Michael in the back, causing him to stumble. Michael fights against the urge to say something to the guard; instead he tries to regain his cool as he begins to walk the very familiar path to the infirmary.


	27. Chapter 26: Fish out of Water

Ch 26:

Outside, Ella can hear a commotion start up as a guard arrives and attempts to open the locked door. His voice sounds hollow and distant as he calls out to Doctor Tancredi and bangs his fist on the thick reinforced door.

For a moment TeeJay is distracted by the guard and a glint of steel in Sarah's palm attracts Ella's attention. She realises Sarah still has the scalpel in her hand, but in her desperate struggle for oxygen Sarah seems to have forgotten she has it. Ella dives towards Sarah and TeeJay, hitting them both with her body. As she throws them off balance she grabs the scalpel from Sarah's hand and spins back for another attack. She slashes TeeJay's arm and as he let's go Sarah topples to the floor gasping for breath. She scurries away to the farthest corner of the room as TeeJay rallies himself for another attack on Ella. Ella tries to manoeuvre out of his way, but trips on Sarah's foot, causing her to lose the scalpel and allowing him to land a blow above her right eye. Her eyebrow splits open and blood pours into her eye and down her cheek, but she still manages to keep her feet. He grabs her in a bearhug before she can recover and headbutts her in the nose. More blood gushes from her nose and her vision is blurred by uncontrollable tears mixed with her own blood. He squeezes her body in a vice-like grip, crushing the breath from her lungs and tearing the fresh stitches in her arm. The pain rallies her senses and she headbutts him back, sending him reeling backwards. She lands a kick to his groin causing him to double over for a moment. She uses the time to regain her stance and wipe the blood from her eyes with her sleeve.

TeeJay straightens a little and charges at Ella, who sidesteps him again and drives her elbow down into his spine as he passes by, causing a distinctive crunch as his vertebrae collapse from the force of the blow. TeeJay falls to the floor, sprawled out in front of Sarah's terrified face, twitching like a fish out of water.

Ella collapses into the corner opposite Sarah and buries her head between her knees. In the shadows of her crumpled figure Ella watches as black blood falls; forming a dark pool on the cold concrete. Outside more guards have gathered and are attempting to break the door down.

"Sarah, tell them you are going to open the blinds then open the door. That way they probably won't shoot you." Ella instructs in a muffled voice and throws the key into Sarah's lap without looking up.


	28. Chapter 27: The Rivers

Ch 27:

Michael anxiously stands with his back against the wall watching the scene unfolding before him. Several guards run in and out of trolley bay, jabbering into their radios and gathering anything they can use to lever the infirmary door open. Sounds of fighting carry out into the bay from inside the locked room; a tray crashes to the floor, clattering as it hits the ground. The distinct sound made by the tray causes the guards to stop in mid action, like someone has hit the pause button on a remote control. A second passes, then as one; the guards begin to rush around the room once more; faster and more panicked than before.

Abruptly the sounds stop. Once again everyone outside the room halts their tasks and strain to hear.

Michael steps out from the wall and listens with them. He hears a mumbled female voice, followed by the sound of keys begin thrown. A minute passes and to his relief he hears the one sound he has been dying to hear.

"I'm going to open the blinds and then I will unlock the door. Please don't shoot." Sara's voice rings out, breaking the unbearable silence, sounding tight and stressed. The guards seem to breathe a collective sigh of relief as they watch Sara open the horizontal Venetian blinds and lastly unlock the door. She pushes it open then steps back, leaning against one of the trolley for support.

As the guards rush into the room and immediately begin to fuss over the unconscious body of TeeJay, Sara looks out into the trolley bay and her eyes lock with Michaels'. She looks away and catches sight of Ella, still curled up in the corner, seemingly invisible to everyone else in the room. She looks back to Michael and breathes the word 'Ella' before disappearing around the corner.

Michael doesn't understand why Sara would say Ella until a group of guards begins to come out of the room carrying a large prisoner and suddenly Michael puts two and two together. As the group pass by Michael he steps back against the wall and stares at the limp body of TeeJay. There was absolutely no way that Sara could inflict that much damage on a man that size but he knew who could.

Michael notices that all the guards seem to be preoccupied with moving TeeJay's body or fussing over Sara with their backs to him, so he tentatively steps forward and moves to the infirmary doorway. He looks at Sara, who cuts her eyes to the corner of the room to Michaels' right before turning her attention back to the guards around her. Michael moves silently towards the figure crouched in the corner.

Ella does not look up as Michael crouches in front of her and places a hand on her shoulder.

"I've already said don't touch me, I'd strongly advise you not to repeat the mistake. I've had a bugger of a day." Ella growls still not lifting her head. He pulls away and sees his palm is drenched in blood.

"Ella." Michael whispers.

"Fuck off." Ella replies finally looking up.

"Oh Jesus!" Michael exclaims under his breathe as he sees Ella's blood drenched face. Rivers of blood flow from her eyebrow and her crooked nose and join together to run down her neck, disappearing into her shirt. Bruises seem to form and darken under her eyes, across the bridge of her nose and on her cheek as he stares at her in horror.

Ella sighs, then reaches up to her face with both hands, crunches her nose straight and flops her arms down by her sides. She exhales with the pain, then turns her head away as another river of blood rushes down her arm, over her raw, bloodied knuckles and pools under her fingertips.

The two guards turn around and begin towards Michael.

"Wait." Dr Tancredi calls after them. "It's okay. It's his sister in law." Sara walks past the guards, reaches into the cupboard and hands Michael some packs of sterile moist towels.

"You can use these to clean up those wounds for me." She instructs Michael and turns to face the guards. "I guess I better see to that prisoner." She sighs and leaves the room. The guards look at each other, then at Michael.

They look at each other, not quite sure what they should do with Michael. Finally one of them breaks the silence.

"Let's go."

Relieved the second guard nods in agreement and they both leave the room.

Michael tears open a pack and reaches towards Ella to begin wiping away some of the blood. As fast as lightening Ella grabs Michaels' arm in a vice grip and wrenches his watch off his wrist. She reaches under her pants leg and pushes an identical watch into his palm, snatches the towel from him and stashes Michael's watch under her sock.

"I'm done with you two fuck ups." Ella announces as she dumps the already blood soaked towel in the corner and grabs another pack.

"Ella what happened?" Michael asks, his voice full of concern and confusion.

"When?" Ella replies with sarcasm. "When I was shot? When I got my ass kicked saving your girlfriend? Or when your asshole brother professed his undying love to that slut lawyer friend of yours in front of a crowded room?"

"I don't…" Michael begins.

"Give this message to your brother- I can fucking lip read and so can a stack of other people."

"I don't understand."

"Of course you don't because you're practically retarded aren't you? If your brother endangered me or this mission in any way by his love confession I'll kill him and probably you too, just for being so stupid. Now move out of my way." Ella growls and pushes Michael backwards, causing him to fall on the floor. She pushes herself up from the ground and stands unsteadily. Her vision becomes blurry and she feels herself sliding back down the wall. Someone grabs her beneath her arm and drags her up again.

"I've got to get you out of here." Bellicks' voice penetrates the fog in Ella's head. "What are you doing here?" She hears him ask.

"I'm due for an insulin shot." Michael replies faking innocence as best he came.

"Fine. Don't move until a guard comes to get you." Bellick replies, distracted by Ella's state. He half drags, half walks her out of the infirmary as Ella begins to babble.

"Being a good guy sucks and the pay is lousy. I quit and I want a fucking divorce." She yells back at Michael as they disappear around a corner.


	29. Chapter 28: Moving Mountains

FFCh28:

Bellick props Ella up against her SUV and begins to rummage through her pockets, searching for her car keys.

"Don't get fresh with me, Punk." Ella says, pushing Bellick away and digging into her back pocket. She produces a set of keys and deactivates the central locking. "With all the time you spend staring at my arse, you would think you would have noticed that's where I keep my keys." She gives Bellick a weak grin and winks.

"Nice to see you making some kind of sense again. At the gate, Jimmy got a fright when you started calling him a giant Pina Colada drinking koala." Bellick smiles, trying to hide his concern.

"Well with those hairy wing-nut ears anyone could mistake him for a giant koala." Ella turns to open the door and falls backwards. Bellick steps in behind her and catches her under the arms.

"I'm not sure you're going to be able to drive." He says pulling her back onto her feet again.

"No choice. There's no one to come get me and you have to stay at work. It's alright. I managed to get myself here; I should be able to get myself home again." Ella replies trying to hide how terrible she feels.

"Look I'll drive you. With all the commotion no-one will miss me for a while. I'll catch a cab back." Bellick offers, hoping Ella will accept.

"It will take too long. If I get into trouble I'll just dial seven on my speed dial and have my cleaning lady come get me. Problem solved. I should really get going." Ella clambers into the driver's seat and turns the engine over. "Thank you, Brad. For everything. I don't think I can ever repay you for the kindness you have shown me over the past few weeks."

"You don't need to. Friends are there to help each other, and though I haven't known you for long, I think of us as friends." Bellick replies, hoping he doesn't sound too cheesy.

"Thank-you." Ella repeats, as Bellick closes the door for her. She winds down the window half way. "Goodbye." She says and speeds out of the parking lot. As Bellick watches the dust settle he is hit with an overwhelming feeling that Ella may have been saying goodbye forever.

* * *

Jack hears the keys turn in the front door and comes barrelling down the stairs as Charlie instinctively stands to attention.

"Where the hell have you been? You were meant to be back hours ago?" Jack yells from halfway up the staircase. As he rounds the corner and enters the foyer he catches sight of Ella's face. "Jesus! What happened to you? Did you pick a fight with a bear or something?" Jack exclaims, brushing Ella's hair from the sticky bloody gash above her eye. She swipes his hand away.

"Do something useful and call Doc." Ella commands Jack.

"Gees, moo-dy." Jack comments heading for the phone in the kitchen. Ella heads up the stairs to her room but stops halfway as she catches sight of Charlie standing at the table.

"Go home, Charlie." She says and continues up the stairs. Obviously disappointed, Charlie packs up his weapons and begrudgingly leaves. Jack returns the phone to its dock and follows the sound of running water upstairs.

"If I had known it was that easy to get that walking Alp out of the house the last few hours could have been a lot more pleasant." Jack says as he takes a seat on the toilet, watching the blurring figure behind the shower screen.

"Since when do we have the kind of relationship where we talk to each other in the shower? Get out, Jack!" Ella calls out of the sound of the running water. Jack pulls back the shower door and peers inside.

"Since Doc told me you could pass out and go into shock because of all the blood you've lost. So too bad, I'm not leaving."

"Get out, you pervert!!" Ella shouts, slamming the shower door into Jack's neck.

"Ouch! Take it easy. It's not like we're related! What's your problem?" Jack yells as he rubs his neck. Ella pokes her head out of the shower, shampoo running down the side of her face.

"It's weird. We've spent most of our lives as brother and sister." She sees the hurt look on Jack's face and immediately feels bad. "I'm sorry. I over-reacted. If had a shit of a day."

"I can tell. You have a least twice as many bruises as when you left. What happened?" Jack asks. Ella steps back under the flow of the water, washing the shampoo out of her hair and causing a river of red water to run down the plughole.

"I passed out at the prison and woke up in the infirmary with a psycho running lose, looking to hurt the little red head doc and myself. I was off my game, cos of the blood loss and the GSW in my arm. He wouldn't have even got a hand on me otherwise." Ella explains, giving Jack the abridged story.

"Did you get to talk to Burrows at least? I know how desperately you needed to get things set up with those boys." Jack asks, making conversation.

"No." Ella replies sharply, immediately regretting showing any emotion to Jack.

Why not? And why do you sound so pissed off all of the sudden?" Jack pushes, knowing Ella is holding back.

"I really don't feel like talking about it right now, so drop it, okay?" She sighs, her voice portraying exhaustion as she secretly washes the flow of tears from her cheeks before Jack sees them.

"Yeah, okay." Jack agrees as Ella turns off the taps.

"Hand me a towel, please." Ella asks. As Jack hands her a clean towel, she gets the feeling that Jack isn't going to drop the subject that easily. She wraps the towel around her body, feeling her bruised muscles begin to stiffen as heat leeches out of her body and forms steam that adds to the fog on the mirror.

"You use a lot of hot water, you know." Jack comments as Ella walks over to the mirror and wipes away a patch of fog so she can stare at herself in the mirror.

"I've spent enough nights in the bush, without a hot shower, that when I get the chance to have one, I like the temperature to be just short of scalding. God, I look like shit." She replies, pushing at the swelling forming around her broken nose. A pit begins to form in her stomach, as she worries about lying to Jack.

"Mission accomplished with the water, then." Jack smiles and stands to leave. "I'll bring up a couple of ice-packs. Doc said he would be here in about half an hour. He said you should lie down"

"I intend to. When he gets here, show him upstairs. Thanks, Jack." Ella replies, as the sick feeling in her stomach grows.


	30. Chapter 29: Repercussions

FFCh29.0:

"Margie." Warden Pope bellowing into the intercom.

"Yes, Warden." Comes her reluctant reply. She knows something bad is happening because the Warden has been storming around in his office, barking orders at a myriad of correctional officers as they rush in and out of his office like frightened lemmings.

"Get me Bellick. NOW!" The Warden roars, just as Bellick enters his office.

Margie gives Bellick a worried look and nods for him to go through the door.

"Thanks, Margie." Bellick says as he approaches the door. He braces himself before turning the handle and stepping inside.

"What the hell is going on around here?" Pope growls.

"Sir?" Bellick questions, not sure which situation the warden is talking about.

"Tell me why Burrows has been dragged out of the visitation room and down to solitary? His lawyer has just been in here screaming blue murder! I do not appreciate it when people demand answers and my staff have failed to give them too me!! I look like a fool, Bellick and I hold you responsible."

"I'm sorry, Sir. I was going to report the situation to you but something urgent came up."

"You're referring to the attack on Doctor Tancredi, I assume." Pope sighs, calming down.

"Yes, Sir." Bellick quickly agrees, sensing an out.

"Fine, fine." The Pope pinches the bridge of his nose, and waves Bellick out of his office. Just as Bellick reaches for the handle the Pope realises he still doesn't have an answer. "Bellick you still haven't told me why is Burrows in the SHU?"

Bellick panicks; not able to think of an excuse. He pauses, facing the door trying to think of a lie that would placate the old man, but none come to mind.

"Bellick!" The Warden yells.

Bellick turns to face him, and finally accepts that he will have to tell the Warden the truth.

"His wife came to see him and found him cheating on her with that lawyer." Bellick replies guiltily. The Warden sucks in a huge breath and Bellick awaits the pending reprimand.

"Dear God, Man!! YOU CANNOT PUT A PRISONER IN SOLITARY FOR CHEATING ON HIS WIFE!!! There are rules, those men may be prisoners but they have rights!! GO GET HIM AND APOLOGISE, NOW!!!" The Warden booms, as Bellick scurries out of the room.


	31. Chapter 30: Internal

FFCh30:

Doc quietly descends the stares and heads into the kitchen to where Jack is pacing.

"Hey, Doc. How is she?" Jack asks, instinctively turning on the kettle.

"She's in a bad way, Jack. She should have never left the house this morning in her condition and now…" Doc trails off.

"What?" Jack asks, alarmed.

"I can't believe she managed to drive herself back here." Doc takes a deep breath before going on. "The trauma she suffered today has caused complications." Doc replies hiding behind his stock-standard medical jargon.

"What are you talking about? She was fine half an hour ago. What complications?" Jack growls, his voice becoming louder.

"She has some pretty serious internal bleeding, Jack."

"I think you may need to check again. We were talking, she had a shower, she didn't say anything about being in pain." Jack replies in disbelief.

"She wouldn't have been feeling much, if any pain because of the adrenaline in her system. That's gone now and the damage she has suffered…"

"How serious?" Jack asks, picking up a dish cloth and twisting it furiously in his hands. "She might not make it through the night. I'm sorry."

"Then do something!" Jack yells, blinking away tears.

"Jack, I've done all I can. All we can do is wait and see. I've given her anaesthetic to help her rest, it should last the night. And I've left instructions by the bed for you so you can give her morphine if she wakes up." Doc hesitates not wanting to say what he knows he needs to say. "Or if you think she is in too much pain."

"If she wakes up…" Jack repeats, turning away and leaning on the sink, his chest heaves and tears fall into the stainless steel basin below.

"I really am sorry. I loved her too." Doc says resting a hand on Jacks' shoulder.

"Thanks, Doc." Jack replies wiping tears from his cheek.

"I'll come by again in the morning to see how you are." Doc grabs his bag and quietly leaves through the front door. Jack's body shudders as the tears flow down the shining metal and disappear into the darkness.


	32. Chapter 31: White knuckles

FFCh31:

Jack sits on a wicker chair in the fading darkness, listening to the slow rise and fall of her laboured breathing. Through the blinds he sees the sun begin to rise over the sleeping city and he cannot bear the sight, instead he turns away to face the shadows that seem to linger only to hide the pain on her face. Red rings line his bloodshot green eyes and grief stretches across his usually handsome face, his skin is pale and grey, like a hollowed marble statue. He feels hollow. He hates the sun for daring to rise, when she cannot. He hates the sounds of the waking world around him and wishes he could take a gun from the cabinet and kill everything and everyone who dares to make a sound on this day, this terrible day. The softest knock at the door tears him from his horrifying thoughts and quietly he rises to his feet and leaves the room. He walks down the stairs and turns the handle on the front door. He doesn't wait to greet the familiar man at the door; instead he turns and heads back upstairs. Doc pushes the door closed as softly as he can behind himself and follows Jack's form, watching him drag his exhausted body back to her room and silently collapse back into the wicker chair.

"She made it through the night, so that's something, right?" Jack asks, his face buried in his hands, as Doc looks her over.

"Yeah, it's something." Doc agrees as he checks for a pupillary reflex.

"So it's good?" Jack looks desperately at Doc, searching for some kind of hope.

Doc reaches into his bag and pulls out a bag of blood. "I don't know. If I had some imaging equipment, I could give you a better answer."

"Give me the best one you've got, Doc." Jack says, leaning back and massaging his aching neck.

"She made it through the night, which means a clot has formed and stopped the bleeding. The blood in her right eye is clearing quickly, which is a good sign, but I can't tell how much damage to her brain she has suffered, and I can't tell you if she will ever wake up. I wish I could give you more, but I just don't know. I had some of my crew snake some blood from the bank on 52nd."

"How will that help? If she's bleeding into her brain won't that make it worse?" Jack asks becoming agitated.

"If she doesn't have enough blood, not enough oxygen will be carried to her brain and more brain damage will occur. Worst case without a transfusion, she could die of oxygen deprivation. Her body needs blood to heal. If the bleeding starts again, there's nothing we can do."

"Fine." Jack concedes, his eyes betraying his exhaustion.

"Jack, why don't you go take a shower, get some sleep. I'll be here for a while, I'll take care of her." Doc offers walking over to Jack and gently lifting him from the chair by his elbow. Carefully he leads Jack into the hall. "If anything changes I'll come get you, okay."

"Okay." Jack replies, too tired and too numb to object.

Doc returns to Ella's room and pulls the wicker chair to her bedside. He waits until he hears the shower running before starting a line in the back of Ella's moist hand. He fiddles with the drip, hanging it from the bedpost, adjusting and re-adjusting the rate. He becomes so preoccupied with getting everything perfect; he fails to hear the front door slam, as Jack leaves the house with the keys to Ella's SUV in a white knuckled grip.


	33. Chapter 32: Spikes

FFCh32:

"I'm here to see Lincoln Burrows." A tall man in a black pin-strip suit says to the guard at the front gate of Fox River.

"Name?" The guard asks, not bothering to look up from his computer screen.

"Mackenzie Donald. I'm a law clerk from Kenneth, Frank and Charlton. My firm has been retained by Ms Donovan to assist with the Burrows case."

"Sign here and write the details of the law firm in the second column." The guard instructs, passing a clipboard through the booth window. The man signs his name and hands the clipboard back to the guard, who briefly looks over the details.

"Unusual address for a law firm. Usually the suits coming through here are from downtown Chicago." The guard comments as he buzzes the man through the gate.

"We're in a good area, lots of places to eat nearby and it's only a block from the Subway. Perfect for a small firm like mine." The man replies, with a friendly smile as the guard hands him a visitors' pass.

"Just follow the path inside, the visitation room is the fifth door on the left." The guard directs.

"Thanks." The man replies and heads into the long morning shadow cast by the main building.

* * *

The man sits with his hands folded neatly in his lap, waiting patiently, spinning a wedding band on his finger. A guard brings a bulky weathered man in a grey prison uniform into the room and directs him to sit opposite the man. The man stands and reaches out to shake the prisoners' hand.

"Lincoln Burrows?" He asks.

"Yeah, that's me." Lincoln replies, extending his hand. The man cups Links' hand in both of his and roughly shakes it briefly. Link feels a sharp pain in the back of his right hand just before the man let's go. Link sits down opposite the man and looks at the small bead of blood forming on the back of his hand where something has pricked him.

"Oh, dear. I am sorry. My wedding band is always spinning around the wrong way- one of the claws has come lose, it's quite sharp."

"You're telling me." Link replies moving to wipe the blood on his grey pants.

"Here, take my handkerchief." The man offers, holding out a crisp, white linen kerchief. "I'm terribly sorry. What a bad way to start."

"It's okay." Link replies, wondering who the hell this clumsy suit is.

"And I haven't even introduced myself yet. My name is Mackenzie Donald. Ms Donovan recently approached my firm, Kenneth, Frank and Charlton, to help with some of the clerical work involved in your case. I have been assigned to assist her."

"Okay." Link replies a little uncertainly. The man ignores Lincolns' tone and begins to flick through a large file.

"I just needed to go over your initial statement to the police, and was hoping we could work through the witness testimonies and see if we can't come up with something. But…"

"What's wrong?" Link asks.

"I seem to have left half the file behind." Mackenzie sighs, and Link notes that everything the man does seems to be slightly theatrical, like he had rehearsed his part of the conversation. "This is very unprofessional of me. I do apologise. I was working on your case late last night and must have forgotten to put the documents back in the file before I left. I am so sorry to have wasted your time, Mr Burrows. I'll come back this afternoon with the rest of the file if it suits you." Mackenzie closes the file and stands to leave, once again he extends his hand.

"Sure." Link replies, wondering what bothers him so much about this man. "I guess I'll see you this afternoon, then." Link adds, gingerly shaking Mackenzie's hand again.

"I heard you had some trouble here yesterday." Mackenzie comments, not letting go of the handshake.

"It was a misunderstanding. I'm not sure what exactly was going on, but from what one of the guards said to me I think he thought I was… It was a stupid misunderstanding, that's all." Link feels uncomfortable as the handshake continues.

"I really do need to be kept appraised of any problems you have while you're in here. The smallest thing could affect the outcome of your appeal." Mackenzie says, trying to press Link into confessing more details.

"I guess the guard thought I was cheating on my wife with V, I mean Veronica Donovan. It's not true, though."

"What would give this guard such a strange idea like that?" Mackenzie asks.

"He must have seen us kissing goodbye, Veronica and I have known each other for years. He must have thought it meant more than it did." Link finishes. Mackenzie's grip becomes tighter and tighter, until finally Link cannot stand the pressure and manages to reef his hand free.

"Oh, before I go I would like to extend my condolences." Mackenzie says, an angry gleam in his eyes.

"Condolences? What for?" Link queries, his gut tells him the penny is about to drop.

"For your wife and yourself, of course." Mackenzie looks amused, as Link rubs his hand. "I'm not sure what you mean." Link replies, looking around the room for a guard. His vision blurs for a split second and his right hand grows painfully numb.

"No, I suppose you don't. Is your hand hurting?" The man asks, a maniacal grin spreading across his face.

"What? I don't understand." Link answers, becoming panicked as the pain in his hand gets stronger. The man steps in close to Lincoln and speaks in a terrifying tone.

"What's not to understand? If she dies, you die - Simple mathematics."

"Ella." Link breathes, his vision blurring again.

"I reckon you have three days at the outside. By the end of the day your feet will have gone numb, making it really difficult to walk. By the morning, well you'll find out." Mackenzie laughs.

"What did you do to me?" Link cries in horror.

"Poison. It's one of her favourite ways of killing people, she has thousands of different kinds on hand, you know. What am I thinking, of course you don't know. You don't know her at all, do you? You don't care if she lives or dies." Mackenzie hisses. "The only problem is- if she dies, there's no way you're gonna get your hands on the antidote. And after your little performance with that lawyer bitch yesterday, which I know she saw, I doubt she'll give you the antidote even if she does wake up. Sucks to be you." Mackenzie turns and walks away.

"Who are you?" Link calls out to him in utter confusion.

"Jack. I'm sure she's mentioned me." Jack answers, turning back and smiling. "Look on the bright side, mate, at least you know there's not going to be another twelfth hour reprieve for you. It's over. Be grateful for that." Jack opens the door and steps through as a guard walks up to Lincoln to escort him back down stairs. Link pushes the guard away and chases Jack out into the corridor.

"Please, don't do this." Link pleads as three more guards materialise and tackle him to the ground.


	34. Chapter 33: Take away

FFCh33:

"Just take the tray and stop sulking, Burrows. You know you deserve to be in here after what you did." Chuck says through the cell door. He waits for a reply, but no sound carries out to him. "Burrows? Answer me Burrows!!" Chuck demands, bending double to look through the slot in the generic grey metal door. Through the morning gloom he sees the twisted shape of Lincoln Burrows body, lying in an unnatural position on top of the bed. Chuck calls out again, searching for any movement that would signify that Burrows heard him, but he doesn't see anything. He stands up and talks into his radio.

"This is officer Winton in solitary. I have a situation and need backup immediately."

"Roger that, Chuck. Bellick is on his way. Standby."

"Standing by." Chuck replies nervously.

* * *

"Be careful with him." Sara orders as two guards lift Lincoln's stiffened contorted body from a portable stretcher onto an infirmary trolley. Sara examines Lincoln, checking his respiratory rate, measuring his heart rate and studying his eye reflexes.

"What's wrong with him, Doc?" Bellick asks.

"I don't know. It looks like some kind of paralysis, probably caused by a toxin, but I won't be able to figure out the exact cause until the blood work comes back from the lab." Sara replies, switching into doctor mode. She draws a vial of blood from the back of Lincoln's rigid right hand, the only surface that is not twisted into an impossible and inaccessible position. Sara notices a small puncture wound on the back of Lincolns' hand and after examining it closely she begins to search through the infirmary drawers for something.

"So he tried to poison himself?" Bellick asks, trying to hide his pleasure at the thought.

"No, I don't think so. Look at the back of his hand. There's a small puncture wound to the left of where I just drew blood. I think someone did this to him."

Bellick leans over Lincolns' near lifeless form and studies the back of his hand.

"You're kidding, right?" Bellick laughs. "Who would bother to poison Burrows. It would be easier to wait a few days and just watch the bastard fry."

Sara finds what she's looking for and pushes Bellick out of the way.

"What are you doing?" Bellick asks, peering over Sara's shoulder.

"Swabbing the wound surface. If we're lucky he hasn't washed it and a large amount of the toxin may still be on the surface of his skin. It'll make it a lot faster to find the antidote if we have a pure sample rather than having to isolate the toxin from his blood."

"Right." Bellick replies, sounding disappointed. "I'll report to the Warden."

"You do that." Sara answers back, glad to be rid of him. "Someone should contact his wife." Sara adds as Bellick nods in agreement and steps through the door.

"Somehow I don't think she's going to care much." Bellick says to himself as he heads for Popes' office.

* * *

"How the hell does an inmate in solitary get poisoned?" Pope booms, causing both Bellick and Sara to shrink in fear.

"From the lab reports and the extent of his symptoms it looks like he was poisoned some time yesterday, very probably before he was put in solitary." Sara replies, trying not to show how intimidated she is by Popes' furious glare.

"So who did Burrows have contact with yesterday that would have access to a weaponised form of botulism toxin?" Pope growls at Bellick. Bellick reaches out and hands Pope the sign-in sheet from the previous day. He walks over puts a tape in the VCR behind Popes desk. He turns it on and pauses it on the blurry image of a man.

"He had only one visitor yesterday. A Lawyer from a firm called Kenneth, Frank and Charlton. The sign-in sheet says his name is Mackenzie Donald." Pope glares at the mans' signature as if it holds all the answers.

"May I have a look at that?" Sara asks, reaching out and taking the sheet from the Warden. "Oh God." She exclaims after a moment of silence.

"What is it?" Pope asks, desperate for answers.

"The names… Mackenzie Donald…"

"What about it?" Pope pushes, getting impatient.

"Mackenzie Donald." Sara repeats. "As in Mac Donald. And look at the firms' name." She says handing the form back to the Warden.

"Kenneth, Frank and Charlton…Oh God." Pope exclaims.

"What?" Bellick asks, not understanding what both Doctor Tancredi and the Pope can see that he could not.

"KFC." The Warden says, realisation washing over him. "MacDonald from KFC. And I recognise this address. It's a strip mall; this address is for a Pizza Hut."

"Williams said the guy said his firm was right near the Subway." Bellick adds.

"Yeah it is. It's a block from a Subway sandwich shop." Pope sighs. "Who is this guy?" He says staring at the image on the television screen.


	35. Chapter 34: When the Viper Comes

FFCh35:

Michaels grip tightens around Lincolns' motionless hand as he rests his forehead against the cold metal rail of the trolley, staring at the floor as he tries and fails to fight against the tears welling in his eyes. Dr Tancredi enters the room and for the first time in 2 hours Michael looks up.

"I'm sorry, Michael. There's still no answer."

Michael bangs his head repeatedly against the railing in frustration.

"Try again." He replies quietly, his legs bouncing in agitation.

"Michael, I've been trying every half an hour for a day and a half…"

Michael jumps up suddenly he sends the chair behind him crashing to the floor, the sound so loud it causes Sarah to jump in fright.

"TRY AGAIN." Michael shouts, tears streaming down his cheeks, shear desperation in his eyes. He takes a swing at a cart nearby, sending a metal tray and its contents showering across the floor.

"Michael!" Sarah exclaims in shock. Michael buries his head in his hands and collapses to the floor, his body shuddering as he fights not to cry out in anguish.

Sarah rushes over and puts her arms around him, and Michael lends into her shoulder, no longer able to hide his pain, his fear and his desperation.

"I can't… I can't save him from this… I don't know how…" Michael sobs, his voice muffled as he breathes into Sarahs lab coat. After what seems like minutes, he pulls back, swiping away the tears from his face.

"Where is she?" He asks, his face filled with concern and confusion. "You have to keep trying, please." He begs. "You have to find her. She has to be here."

"Michael." Sarah breathes, not knowing how to explain his brothers' condition to him without devastating him more. "Even if Ella were here, there's nothing she can do. There's nothing any of us can do for Lincoln anymore. You have to let him go." Michael looks into Sarah's eyes in disbelief.

"No." He whispers. "He's not going anywhere. I have to save him!" His voice breaks with the effort. The movement of the door opening behind Sarah attracts his gaze.

"Who's going somewhere?" Ella asks as she wheels herself into the room and waves a tall man away, indicating for him to wait outside. The man pulls the door closed behind her and stands sentry to the right of the door.

"Ella." Michael breathes, shocked to see Ella in a wheelchair, looking pale and fragile.

Ella wheels herself around Michael and Sarah, still on the floor in a half embrace. Sarah pulls away from Michael and stands, suddenly self-conscious.

"Ella I'm so glad you're here. I've been trying to contact you for days." Michael says as he moves to stand on the other side of Lincolns bed, staring at Ella as if she has all the answers.

"I want to talk to my husband." Ella announces to the room in general, ignoring Michaels existence.

"Um, I don't know how many of my messages you received…" Sarah begins, trying hard to be tactful, "…but your husband is almost completely paralyzed, he's barely conscious and has no way of communicating."

"Get out." Ella menacing voice echoes throughout the room as she turns and stares Sarah down.

Threatened, Sarah backs away and leaves the room.

"You too. Get out." Ella replies, not bothering to make eye contact with Michael, instead her unnerving gaze focuses intently on Lincolns face.

"Ella…" Michael begins to protest but is interrupted.

"See that alp of a man outside the door," Ella says her hand gently wiping some sweat from Lincolns brow, her gaze still focused on Lincoln, "if you don't leave now I'll have him come in here and snap your neck. I won't tell you again." Her voice unnervingly calm and even as she threatens him.

Suddenly, Michael becomes afraid to leave Lincoln in his vulnerable state alone with Ella, but knowing her threat to be more of a promise, reluctantly he leaves the room.

The man guarding the door turns and nods to Ella before turning his back to the room and moving sideways to block the door with his enormous, muscular body.

Michael begins to pace nervously. Sarah looks through the glass, watching Ella as she gently strokes Lincolns cheek and begins to say something to him.

"I can't just leave my patient." Sarah protests, trying to step in behind the man blocking the door. The man grabs Sarah by the throat and roughly pushes her aside.

"You will." He commands; his voice deep and gravelly. "You will both wait here until directed otherwise. If you try to leave or signal to anyone I have been authorized to kill you both." The man replies as if he was reading a operators manual. Sarah's eye open wide in fear as she gently rubs her neck, a purplish bruise already forming. Michael stops pacing and stares through the glass, watching Ella's every move with fearful intent.

"Michael, what's going on?" Sarah asks, still not fully understanding the situation.

"I don't know." Michael turns to Sarah and looks her in the eyes. "Just stay calm and hopefully she'll just do what she came here to do and go away. No one needs to get hurt, right?" He asks turning to the sentry.

"Actually I think someone is definitely going to get hurt." The man chuckles, crossing his humongous arms. "Don't look so worried, Red. It probably won't be you. It will probably be just those two." The man says shrugging towards Michael and then towards the room where Lincoln lies defenseless.


	36. Chapter 35: Confession

FFCh36:

Ella gently strokes Lincoln's forehead, trailing her fingers down his cheek and across his neck. She watches the grey shadow of her hand pass across his unmoving face and a sudden rush of empathy pushes its way into her twisted and dark thoughts. She lowers the railing, takes Link's hand in hers and rests her head on the bed next to his. She looking into his eyes, and though they are motionless, she sees him pleading with her and becomes aware that he knows she could help him if she wanted to.

"You can't move can you?" She asks fury rising in her throat like bile. She twists his fingers, gently at first then harder and harder until she feels his index finger snap at the first joint. She feels a rush of air hit her face as Lincolns' body reacts to the intense burst of pain in his hand. "You can feel pain but no one will help you and you can't move to help yourself." She stops and gently strokes his face as if to comfort him. "You may not believe me but I've felt what your feeling now, once. For the longest time I haven't felt anything you know. I never felt bad about the terrible things I've done to people. And I should, shouldn't I? I mean I've destroyed lives, tortured people until they wished they were dead, killed so many people… so many. But I never felt remorse. I've always thought that something was broken in me, and that broken thing meant I would never feel anything ever again." She gently takes Links' thumb, pulls it to her lips and kisses it. She opens her mouth and slides his thumb over her teeth and her bottom lip before slipping it between her teeth and biting down hard on his nail bed. She watches Links black pupils becoming wide with pain. She stops and takes his hand in both of her. With a quick twist of her wrist she reefs Lincolns' thumb from its socket, dislocating it. She watches Lincolns' expression as it remains unchanged. She feels his breathing becoming rapid from the agonizing pain she is inflicting on him and sees in his eyes that he doesn't understand why she is doing this to him. His eyes begin to roll back in his head and she slaps him across the face.

"Not yet, lover. I have a story to tell you first. One that you've never heard before, but I think you'll enjoy it. After all, you seem to enjoy hurting people, don't you?"

She pauses, looking for some kind of reaction, knowing that he can give her none. "It's about someone getting hurt… A girl… Oh but I shouldn't ruin the punch line so how about I start from the beginning."

She pauses again and looks out the window into the corridor and sees Michael's horrified face staring back at her. His eyes wide with fear as he watches her torture his helpless brother. She smiles. She returns her focus to Lincoln and rests her head next to his on the pillow again.

"Once there was a sweet little girl, sweet and kind to everyone. The girl would help her elderly neighbour do her grocery shopping every Thursday and would take in every stray injured animal she came across and patiently nurse it back to health. She was happy as most little girls of twelve are, she had lots of friends and she played the violin so beautifully. Every year she would play in the orchestra for the Christmas pageant, and people would call her a child prodigy and comment on how she had the most beautiful smile. One night the little girl asked her parents if she could have a sleepover at her best friends' house and they agreed. She was so excited, her first sleepover. The next night her mum drove her over to her friends' house and dropped her off with her ninja turtles sleeping bag and her strawberry shortcake nightie in her backpack. The two girls played dress-ups and watched TV for hours. Her friends' mother made Mexican for dinner and the whole family sat at the table and talked for ages. It was getting late so her friends mother said it was time to go to sleep. Her friend went to her bedroom and the mum helped the little girl roll out her sleeping bag on the couch in the lounge room. She turned out the lights and said good night to the little girl and went to bed. Soon the little girl fell asleep probably happier than she had ever been before.

When she woke up it was twelve minutes past three in the morning, she could see the VCR clock glowing pale blue in the darkness. In the gloom she saw something else, someone standing over her. It was her friends' father staring at her in his stripy pajama bottoms, his matching shirt buttons undone, showing his heaving hairy chest. He sat down on the edge of the couch and looked at her, his weight stretching the sleeping bag so tight that it pulled against her chest, pinning one of her arms underneath it and making it hard to breathe. She opened her mouth to speak but he pressed his index finger gently to her lips, quietly shushing her. He sat up slightly and pushed the sleeping bag back, so the little girl lay on the couch uncovered in her nightie. Her heart began to race as he looked her over, making her feel scared. She tried to speak again, but he put his big hand across her mouth, his fat sausage fingers nearly blocking all the air to her nostrils. She tried to scream and wriggle away, but he pushed her down, squashing her head into the fluffy pillow, making everything sound muffled and far away. He slowly ran his hand up her thigh, pushing her nightie up around her waist as she kicked and squealed as best she could, trying to escape. He pushed down harder on her face as he rolled on top of her, and she started to cry as he tore her underpants off and wrenched her little legs apart with his knees. She thought she would die because she couldn't breathe and felt faint. She felt his weight lift off her as he pulled his pajama bottoms down around his ankles and she twisted and tried to kick out. She hit him in the thigh, but he barely seemed to notice. He pushed down on her again, his weight crushing her into the cushions so she could barely move. She felt his hand slip between their bodies before he forced his penis inside her tiny body. She cried out in pain, begging him in muffled sobs to stop, to please stop hurting her, but he kept thrusting into her, tearing her apart. She bit down on his hand, his blood pouring into her mouth and for a moment he let go. Before she could suck in a breath to scream out his hand swung back and hit her so hard across her face that blood from her lip sprayed across the cream coloured pillow slip in a dotted line. Her vision blurred and as she floated away she smelt the sour salty odour of his sweat and the metallic smell of her own blood. She was paralysed, not able to cry out, not able to help herself as he tortured her tiny body again and again.

After what felt like an eternity he stopped with a grotesque grunt and sat up next to her. He put his head in his hands and sat there for a long time before he turned to look at her. She lay still like a rag doll, her arms and legs loose by her sides, unable to move, her nightie pushed up around her ribcage. He pulled her nightie down and left her whimpering like an injured dog, lying in her own blood, his sweat and his semen."

Ella looked away from the horror in Lincoln's eyes and kept talking.

"Eventually her sobs grew louder and her friends mother came into the room. She took one look at the little girl, put her hand to her and mouth tried to stifle a sob. She knelt down next to the little girl and gently pushed her long soft hair back from her face. She picked the little girl up in her arms, and the girl felt that she was finally safe. The mother took her into the bathroom and carefully placed her at the bottom of the shower and striped her nightie off. The mother left the girl alone, naked and scared in the bathroom, taking her stained nightie with her. After a few minutes the mother returned and turned on the cold water, but the little girl couldn't feel the sting of the freezing water as it hit her thousands of times, washing away the smell and blood of her nightmare. The mother pushed up the sleeves on her dressing gown and began to scrub the girls' body, her pale white skin turning red as the mother scrubbed harder and harder, trying to scour away the evidence of what had taken place, like a pan that she had forgotten to wash and was left stained with last nights' dinner.

The mother turned the water off and left the girl, shuddering in the bottom of the shower, sobbing and whimpering. Two hours passed before the mother returned and pulled the freshly laundered nightie over the girls' head. She took the girl by the hand and led her back into the lounge room where she tucked her into the freshly cleaned ninja turtles sleeping bag. She bent down, tears streaming from her eyes, kissed the little girl on the forehead and whispered "I'm so sorry" before rushing off back into her bedroom and slamming the door shut."

Ella turned back to Lincoln.

"Sorry? Like that means anything. Like that could possibly ever take the hurt and the pain and the black emptiness away." Ella swiped at a stray tear that had crept its way down her cheek and pooled at her chin.

"Anyway, after that night, everyone said how the little happy girl had changed. She wasn't happy anymore. She didn't smile, and when they tried to make her for a family portrait it was an empty smile, a mimic, a copy, something that her face remembered it could do but didn't know why. There was no happiness in her eyes anymore, no light. Her expression was unchanging, her eyes dull and vacuous. She dropped out of all her sports, her violin classes, stopped talking to her friends. She sat alone, said nothing in class, and only answered her parents in monosyllables. Something had broken inside her- all she felt was anger, hatred and pure fury.

A year passed and finally her parents sat her down to talk. They were unhappy about how she had dropped all of her commitments and wanted her to take an interest in something again, anything. So she thought about it for weeks and when they finally asked her again she told them she would like to try Martial arts. Her parents were skeptical but the girl had become clever in her lonely world and it was easy for her to convince them that it would help her improve her confidence and self esteem, so they enrolled her. Within two years she was a junior black belt champion and had taken up kick-boxing and boxing too. She got straight A's in school and helped tutor maths in an after school program and her parents were happy. Only her step-brother noticed how she had changed. She had become so serious, focused and he teased her that she was training to become a lethal weapon or was some kind of Russian sleeper spy. If only he knew how close to the truth he was maybe he could have stopped her. Or maybe she would have hurt him too."

Ella smiled at the last comment before continuing her terrifying story.

"On the eve of her sixteenth birthday she stood in the backyard in the darkness watching the house where she was broken. She waited and at two-thirty in the morning the dad got up to get a glass of milk, like he had done every night since that night. The girl moved just enough to set off the sensor light and the dad turned and stared at her. Though the girl never came back to the house, he recognized her because he had seen her at school every now and then when he picked up his own daughter. He walked outside and stood a few feet from her. He asked her what she was doing but she didn't answer, didn't move. He took a few steps closer and grabbed her by the arm. Still she didn't respond. He looked past her and saw the garden shed door was slightly ajar and a small light burned inside. He growled at her, asking her what she was doing in his shed, dragging her behind him into the small tin building. He let go and looked around; everything seemed to be in the wrong place. Barbed wire was strewn out along the workbench and hooked over a rafter in the ceiling. He turned around to yell at the girl but before he could get a word out she swung the axe and smashed him in the temple with the blunt edge. He crumpled to the ground with a low thud and she dragged him onto the table. When he woke up, his head was fuzzy where his skull had been crushed by the violent blow and there was a dull ache in his wrists. As he came to, he began to try to move and was hit with slicing pain as barbed wire cut through his bound wrists, digging deeper as he struggled. He tried to call out but his mouth was filled with material and taped over with electrical tape.

The girl lent over him and began to talk to him:

'I've written a note for your kids, telling them not to come out to the shed. I wouldn't want to scar them anymore than necessary.'"

Ella's voice changes like she is reciting this speech from memory.

"The dad started to struggle again, the wire cutting deeper every time he moved, blood dripping onto the cold concrete floor.

'I have thought about this for some time and all I truly want is to show you what it feels like to be torn apart, to feel empty inside; to have life taken from you. I went to see a doctor and she told me I could never have children because of what you did to me. You took life away from me and now I am going to take it away from you.'

When the police came the next day, the commissioner was quoted as saying if it wasn't for the victim being found bound with barbed wire and his genitalia nailed to the wall they would have thought a bear had torn his body apart. Nearly the whole town suspected the girl but no one could explain how a rail thin, pale girl like her had the physical strength to do that kind of damage, though people knew too well that she had the martial arts skills to take down a grown man.

After what she had done she no longer felt the fury that had filled her and driven her to survive, instead the hollow emptiness took over. She thought she couldn't go on but as it does, life goes on, dragging you along with it and at seventeen she graduated dux of her high school. She thought that maybe her nightmare would end when she left the town but a few days after she reached the city two men approached her. They told her that they knew it was her and that they admired her work, as if what she had done was something to be proud of. They promised to train her, to teach her to become anyone she wanted. And what she wanted more than anything was to be anyone but herself, so she agreed.

She finished her training faster than anyone had ever done and became their ultimate weapon. She would do what she was told; no questions asked, no remorse, no feeling. After a time in their employ she realised that who ever she became she could never stop being who she was- a monster. So she left, hoping to become something else, but she could never escape her past."

Ella looks Lincoln in the eyes and sees pity and sadness behind them.

"I thought you'd like that story. It's my personal favourite though you're the only person I've ever told it to. The perfect tale about how easy it is to destroy a person, to betray their trust and create a monster." Lincoln continues to stare at her with pitying eyes.

"Don't pity me." Ella growls. "I was a mercenary for seven years before I went off the reservation. In that time I killed indiscriminately; I didn't give a damn who else suffered for my crimes. Men, women and children – I destroyed them all."

Still Lincolns' eyes hold their pity, enraging Ella.

"I have only been captured once in my career, two years in. I was in Egypt. They dragged me down into a cell and tortured me for days, and I felt nothing. They raped, beat, cut, whipped, drowned and burned me for six days straight and I felt nothing. That man who destroyed that little girl all those years ago, destroyed the part of me that would have failed me in those six days. I was already broken, so no matter what they did, they could never break me. That man destroyed what was weak in me, so in a sick way I'm grateful for him. I never would have survived my life without him. I am stronger because of him. So strong that on the sixth day I tore a mans' throat out with my bare teeth and was able to free myself from their blue stone dungeon. I could have just left, escaped, but I didn't. I ripped them apart just like I did the first time."

Ella moves closer to Lincoln, her minty breathe hot on his cheek as she whispers in his ear.

"I trusted you and you betrayed me. I saw you with that lawyer bitch. I saw you tell her you loved her. I have never willingly slept with anyone, ever. I chose you, I cared about you and you betrayed me for that little slut. You used me. But somehow that doesn't seem to matter now. Whatever I thought I felt for you… I was wrong. I can't feel anything. I don't."

Ella looks deeper into Lincolns' gaze, trying to see through him.

"I thought coming here that I wouldn't be able to stop myself from hurting you, but seeing you here, dying, you're just so pathetic."

Ella pulls a vial from the armrest of the wheelchair. She opens the cart drawer and removes a syringe. She fills the needle and pushes it directly into the I.V line in Lincolns' arm.

"I feel bad for you. You've put your trust in the wrong people, Lincoln." Ella grabs his hand and pops his thumb back into its socket. Then she carefully wraps his broken index finger in a white bandage and secures it with a pin. Leaning in, she whispers one last time into his ear.

"Ask her where she was the night you were arrested. Ask Michael why he didn't answer your phone call. Ask why he wasn't able to talk to you when you needed him the most. Ask them."

Ella leans back into her wheelchair and whistles. The sentry blocking the door enters the room and pushes her out into the corridor, closing the door behind him, leaving Lincoln alone.

"Ella. I'm sorry." Link whispers, before violently convulsing and falling unconscious.


	37. Chapter 36: Waking the Dead

FFCh37

Enraged, Michael grabs Ella by the throat and tears her from the wheelchair. He slams her head hard against the glass window that stands between him and his unconscious brother. The glass fractures from the force, instantly forming a spider web pattern that spreads out from behind Ella's bleeding head.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?' He screams into her face as Ella's body becomes limp and slumps down. He grips tighter, holding her weight and slams her into the glass again. Sarah takes a step back, terrified by the scene before her.

"Michael!" Sarah gasps, 'Michael let her go." Sarah steps towards Michael and pulls at his arms, trying to loosen his grasp, but he just swats her away.   
Michaels' grip tightens further as Ella's bodyguard steps in. He pulls Michael away from Ella, holding his hands securely behind his back as Ella collapses to the floor in a heap, her form heaving as she struggles for breath. Sarah tries to dart towards the door, but the bodyguard moves swiftly to block the doorway again, dragging Michael with him.

Ella rubs her neck as she tries to stand. After a false start she finally props herself against the window, holding the frame to keep from collapsing again. Michael struggles to get free from the firm grip of Ella's missive gorilla sized bodyguard, but can't. He angles himself so he see Lincolns' still form through the glass.

"What did you do?" Michael growls again, pure fury in his voice, as he watches his brother, helplessly.

"I'm trying to save him, you psycho." Ella replies, her voice raspy and weak. Rich burgundy blood trickles down Ella's neck, into her shirt; the blood seeps into the white cotton, forming a growing red stain.

Sarah rushes to Ella's side. She grabs her arm, helping to hold her up while she inspects the laceration on the base of Ella's head. Sarah puts pressure on the wound, expecting Ella to wince from the pain, but her body doesn't react.

"What did you inject into the IV? How much did you give?" Sarah grills Ella.

"It's a counteragent to the poison he was given. But I'm way too late. The counteragent will probably kill him if the poison hasn't already." Ella replies quietly.

"Don't trust her, Sarah. She's trying to kill him." Michael yells.

"I'm not." Ella looks into Sarah's eyes and sees that Sarah doesn't trust her. "At least not anymore. I don't care anymore." Ella turns to Michael. "I'm through with the both of you. You're on your own from now on."

Michael stops struggling and Ella nods to the bodyguard to release him. The bodyguard wheels the chair over to Ella, pushes Sarah out of the way and roughly drops Ella into the seat. "Easy, you useless fucking gorilla!" Ella growls, causing the bodyguard to grumble something in German. Ella yells something in German and the bodyguard retreats to the corner, facing the wall like a naughty child on a timeout.

"As if I wasn't feeling shit enough already." Ella growls at Michael. "Thanks for the fucking headache, you piece of shit." She takes a few deep breathes before continuing. "Right now Lincolns' heart has stopped. He's not breathing and his clinically dead." Panic crosses Sarah's face as she heads for the room. "STOP!" Ella shouts. Sarah stops her hand on the doorknob. "If you give him adrenaline now, you'll kill him for sure! You have to trust me. Don't do anything and less than a minute and forty-two seconds he'll wake up."

"You're lying!" Michael yells. "Sarah help him. You have to help him!"

Sarah turns to look into Ella's eyes.

"I don't care what you do. Trust me or don't. The fact is if you intervene in anyway right now, Lincoln is as good as dead." Ella wheels towards to exit. "Whether he lives or dies is up to you. If Lincoln's as strong as I think he is, he has a good chance of surviving. Regardless of the outcome I'll have everything exactly where I said I would when I said I would. It's up to you now, Michael." The bodyguard crosses the room and wheels Ella away, as Michael pushes past Sarah and rushes through the door to Lincoln's bedside. He begins to pace back and forth, his hands on his head.

"What do we do?" He asks Sarah.

"If we don't do anything and she's lying Lincoln will have suffered massive brain damage from oxygen depravation by the time we revive him, if we can revive him at all." Sarah replies, switching into doctor mode. "If she's not lying…"

"Damn it. I don't know what to do!" Michael says, tears welling in his eyes. He turns away, not able to look at Link's lifeless body.

"Just have a little faith." Link says in a scratchy, barely audible voice. Michael turns around to see Links eyes flicker open, a weak grin on his face. "Did I miss anything?"


	38. Chapter 37: Seven Minutes to Midnight

FFCh38 – Seven minutes to Midnight

Michael swipes at a tear as it escapes and runs down his cheek.

"So what's the verdict, Doc?" Link asks as Sarah pulls the black BP cuff off his upper arm.

"Your blood pressure is a little higher than I would like, but you seem to be in pretty good health for a man who was clinically dead for a few minutes." Sarah replies, shining a pen torch in Links eyes.

"So I'm okay, right." Link double-checks.

"Your reflexes are normal, your heart rate is normal, everything is normal, but I want to wait until you blood tests come back before I give you the okay to return to your cell. So until then, rest!" She orders and walks to the other side of the room to tidy up. Michael follows her.

"How long will the blood tests take?" Michael asks, worry lining his face.

"At least 12 hours." Sarah replies, noticing the look on Michaels' face. "Don't worry, I won't put him back in his cell until I'm sure he's okay. I'll look after him." She tries to comfort Michael, her hand resting on his arm. Michael looks down at her hand, and Sarah pulls away.

"Thank you. I know you'll take care of my brother." Michael says, sounding distant. He returns to Links' bedside.

Sarah shrugs off the feeling that something else is going on with Michael and busies herself with a stock order. Occasionally she glances across at Michael as he sits with Link, whispering.

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Michael asks.

"Like I have a huge hangover and missed out on the fun of getting drunk." Link replies wryly.

"Do you need more time?"

"Time for what?" Link asks not realizing what Michael is aiming at.

"To build up your strength for a _walk_?" Michael replies, putting such an emphasis on the word 'walk' Link finally catches on.

"Tonight?" Link asks, becoming anxious.

"If you get back to your cell in time." Michael replies coolly. He looks at the symbol around Lincoln's neck. "I almost forgot about that." He says nodding towards it. "I wonder what would have happened if we had shocked you."

"I'm glad you didn't have the chance to find out." Link replies twisting the cool silver metal in his fingers.

"So do you think you can do it?" Michael asks, lowering his voice further.

"My legs are a little stiff, maybe." Link replies, flexing his legs beneath the covers.

"I need to be sure, Link. This is our last chance, there's no room for error."

"I can do it." Link replies, certainty in his voice.

"Okay. You know the plan- seven minutes to midnight." Michael confirms, adjusting Links' watch to match his precisely.

"Can I ask you something?" Link asks.

"Sure."

Link pauses, his expression changing as he seems to decide what he's going to ask. Tension seems to hang in the air between them.

"Why seven minutes to midnight?" He finally asks.

"The dooms day clock is set as seven minutes to midnight." Michael replies, smiling.

"Sometimes I forget how much of a geek you are Michael." Link laughs, but the tension between the two brothers still remains.


	39. Chapter 38: The Breeze

FFCh39

"How are you feeling now?" Jack asks as he casually leans in the doorway watching over Ella. She lies resting on top of the covers staring out her bedroom window, an I.V of blood running into her arm.

"Hmm. Sorry what did you say?" She asks, distracted.

"I asked if you were feeling better? Maybe I should get Doc in to take another look at you?" Jack worries.

"What? No I'm fine." She turns to look at Jacks' concerned expression. "Seriously, I'm alright. Stop fussing over me- it's like having mum here."

"Okay, okay." Jack says putting his hands up in surrender. "I'm entitled to be worried about you, you nearly died."

"I've nearly died at least a dozen times. It's nothing new. So just stop looking at me like that!"

"Like what?"

"Like how you get when you're carrying mums' Royal Doulton china to the dinning room table at Christmas. I'm not going to break."

"No offense, but you look like you already broke."

"None taken, Jackass!" Ella growls, tossing a pillow in Jacks' direction. It falls short, landing at his feet. Jack gives Ella another concerned look. "Right, that's it! Get OUT!" She demands.

"I'm glad to see you're feeling better. I was getting worried." Jack laughs, though Ella can tell he has more to say.

"What?" She asks.

"You've been pretty quiet since you got back."

"I'm just tired. That's all." She replies, turning away to stare out the window again.

"I've seen you tired. You stomp around the house growling at everyone and everything. This isn't tired. You're thinking about him, aren't you?"

Ella sighs with resignation, knowing Jack would eventually bring up Lincoln again.

"I don't want to talk about him anymore, okay?" She says.

"But you're happy to lie here thinking about him, is that it?"

"Leave it alone, Jack!" Ella snaps, giving Jack a savage stare.

"No. You've always warned me not to get involved…" Jack begins.

"I'm not involved. Not anymore." Ella retorts.

"But you admit that you were and now you can't stop thinking about him? This is not good."

"Don't lecture me, I wrote the rules of conduct…"

"And you broke them!" Jack shouts.

"What do you expect me to do?" Ella shouts back. She takes a deep breath as her head spins a little from the effort. She calms herself and in a lower voice she continues. "I can't just turn it off, Jack. But I'm trying and talking about it is making everything worse."

"God damn it, are you in love with this guy?" Jack asks, his voice calm and gentle again.

"I don't know." Ella replies, a tear streaking down her cheek and splashing on to the pillow. "Maybe."

"Maybe." Jack echoes, heartbreak in his voice. "Fubar." He whispers before turning on his heel and leaving Ella alone in the fading light. Jack slides down the wall just outside Ella's room, and puts his head between his knees. His sight blurs as he watches his tears form a pool on the hardwood floor.

"Yeah, fubar." Ella repeats as she turns back to watch the trees blowing in the strengthening wind.


	40. Chapter 40: The Con

"Hey, you awake?" Jack asks, trying to talk loud enough that if she wasn't she would be now.

"I am now, asshole!" Ella growls, pulling the doona cover over her head. Jack walks across the room and reefs the doona off her body. Ella groans and buries her face in her pillow.

"Go away." She grumbles.

"Phone for you." Jack replies.

"Take a message." Ella answers, her voice muffled by the soft pillow. Jack moves up to the head of the bed and pulls the pillow away, letting Ella's head drop roughly to the mattress.

"You probably want to take this one." He says, putting the phone on speaker and dropping it on the mattress centimeters from Ella's face.

"Give me back my doona, pig." Ella kicks out at Jack as he walks away. He stops at the end of the bed and scoops up the doona, balls it up and throws it onto Ella's head.

"Thank you." She calls out from beneath the heavy covers.

"Hello? Hello?" A muffled voice rises from the smothered phone speaker.

Ella unburies her face, pushes her fluffy bed hair out of her eyes and scratches around under the blanket until she finds the phone.

"Speak." She says, freeing the phone from its snug coffin beneath the doona cover.

"I need something." The voice on the other end replies.

"I'm shocked." Ella replies, annoyed that this bastard interrupted a very good dream.

"Look, you're the last person I wanted to call, but…"

"I'm the first person you called though, aren't I?" Ella growls.

"Yes." The all too familiar voice concedes. "I don't know anyone else who can get me what I want in the time frame I have to work with."

"What do you need?" Ella asks, resigning herself to the idea she may have to get out of bed.

"A false healthy blood test report in Lincoln Burrows name. Can you get it?"

"Do you know the name of the pathology lab? What form of correspondence are the results supposed to arrive? When will the real document arrive? Do you expect the real document to be intercepted on my end or yours? How much time do I have?" Ella fires off a list of questions instinctively, before adding, "And does this require me to get out of bed?" to the list.

"Gribbles pathology, by fax, sometime in the next twenty-four hours, it would be easier for you to intercept the real report, you have one hour and yes, unless you keep a laptop with high-speed broadband in your pajamas you're going to need to get out of bed."

"Bite me!" Ella replies and hangs up the phone. She wraps herself up in the doona and wriggles to the end of the bed. She takes a deep breath before waddling downstairs in her blanket cocoon. Jack looks up from his magazine as Ella shuffles past him into the study. As she passes she drops the phone into his lap.

"Nice fashion statement." Jack teases.

"Hold all my calls, bitch." Ella replies.

"Your still helping them aren't you?" Jack calls after her as she disappears through the door.

"Kiss my well sculpted arse, Jack." Ella yells back as she switches the computer on and sits down to forge yet another document for Michael Scofield.

* * *

"Hello, this is Doctor Sarah Tancredi; I was just calling to check on the results for one of my patients."

Could you hold the line please?" The receptionist nasal voice asks, and without waiting for an answer, she finds herself on hold.

"Doctor Tancredi, this is Doctor Walter Frietzburger. How can I help you?" A low, gravelly, older male's voice interrupts Mozart's fifth symphony.

"Hello Doctor Frietzburger. I sent a blood sample for testing early today for one of my patients, name Lincoln Burrows."

"Ah yes. I was just finishing up the report, would you like me to fax it to you now." Dr Frietsburger asks, eager to please.

"Actually, this is a little embarrassing." She replies adding a nervous giggle. "I was checking my work before I headed home for the night and just realized I mislabeled some samples and I'm afraid I've sent the wrong sample to you for testing."

"Oh I see. I wouldn't worry too much, Dr Tancredi, this kind of thing happens more often than you think. You're lucky you caught your mistake, a lot of doctors' don't."

"I was hoping to cancel the tests before you had a chance to do them. I work for a state penitentiary and my department is way over budget already without my stupid mistake costing the prison for the wrong tests." Sarah's voice reveals how nervous she is.

"I'm sorry. As I said early I've already completed the tests, so I will have to bill your department for them. The tests you requested were quite expensive."

"I feel terrible." Sarah says sounding very upset.

"It's an honest mistake, I'm sure your superiors will understand."

"I wish that were true. Is there anyway you could send the bill to me, personally. I don't feel right letting the Warden get in trouble for my negligence." Sarah sniffles.

"It's against procedure…" There is a significant pause before Dr Frietzburger continues. "I would need to confirm you identity, what's your number?"

"555-643-9743-597." Sarah quotes her medical license, knowing the Doctor is comparing it to the number on the test request slip in front of him.

"Okay, Dr Tancredi, what address would you like the bill sent to?" Dr Frietzburger enquires and she gives him a random post office box address.

"Thank you so much for your help, you don't know how much better I feel." Sarah adds.

"My pleasure, Dr Tancredi. Would you still like the report faxed through seeings I've already printed it out?" Dr Frietzburger asks.

"Um… No. Maybe you could just put it in the envelope with the bill."

"Not a problem. I'll put do it straight away and you should have it all in a few days."

"Thank you, once again, Dr Frietzburger." Sarah adds.

"Please call me, Freddie." The Doctor replies, obviously flirting.

"Thank you so much for your help, Freddie. Have a good night." She replies.

"Thank you, I will. Actually I was wondering if you were…" The Dr Frietzburger begins but stops when he realizes she has hung up. "She must not have heard me" he tells himself.

Ella slams the phone down, thinking the man on the other end must have been at least in his late fifties. "Old balls" Ella thinks and grimaces. She hits send on the fax and watches her fake report disappear through the fax on its way to Sarah Tancredi's desk in Fox River. She waits for the sent screen to appear before spinning around in her desk chair, smiling to herself.

"Up to your old tricks again I see." Jack comments.

"How long have you been there for?" She asks.

"Long enough to see you having the time of your life conning some poor old pathologist into breaking protocol and risking his job. You dirty little flirt." Jack teases.

"You use what you got." Ella adds, with a devious smile.


	41. Chapter 41: Watching the Silver Fox

FFCh42:

Michael slams the payphone down hard on the receiver.

"Take it easy, Scofield." A familiar older males' voice says from directly behind him.

Michael turns around and finds himself face to face with Westmoreland.

His weathered face showing the lopsided grin of someone who just heard too much.

"Westmoreland." Michael acknowledges him as he tries to pass unhindered. Michael strides off at a fast pace, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his blue prison issue winter jacket for what little protection against the frosty wind it provides.

Westmoreland turns on his heels and walks double-time to keep up with him. After a few metres Michael concedes and slows down, allowing Westmoreland to get in step with him and catch his breath.

"Is there something I can do for you?" Michael asks coyly.

"As a matter of fact there is." Westmoreland replies preparing to argue his point.

"Oh, and what's that?" Michael stops, putting his hands to his mouth and blowing on them with his warm breath. He looking around the yard, avoiding the old mans' stare, searching for Sucre.

"You can give this to my daughter." Westmoreland answers, shoving a silver, filigree carved pocket-watch into Michaels palm and pushing his fist closed around it.

"What's this?" Michael asks.

"The only thing I have of value to give to my daughter." Westmoreland replies, his eyes suddenly saddened.

"Then why are you giving it to me?" Michael questions, trying to play dumb to the old mans' obvious implications.

"Do you really want me to spell it out for you?" Westmoreland growls.

"I wish you would, I'm not a very good psychic." Michael retorts, getting annoyed by the hold up.

"I've been watching you since you first walked through that gate, and I know you're not the type to give up so easily. I know you have another plan to get out of here, one which doesn't involve the rest of us." Westmoreland pauses, hoping for a reaction, but Michael plays it cool, not giving anything away, so Westmoreland plays the only card he has left. "My daughter is dying, Scofield. They won't let me see her so I need you to promise to take that watch to her for me."

Westmoreland can see Michaels' thoughts turning in his head, deciding how to play the situation.

"What makes you so certain I have another plan to get out?" Michael enquires.

"I've been around the block a few times and in that time I've heard a few things."

"Like what?" Michael pushes.

"My new cellie was in Shepherd Falls pen last year. He has some interesting stories to tell." Westmoreland sees a slight reaction in Michaels' expression at the name of the penitentiary so he continues. "Stories about a girl, pretty young thing who closely resembles your brothers' girl. When she turned up some inmates went out." Westmoreland ends.

"Do the others know?" Michael replies, finally acknowledging Westmorelands' insinuations.

"If they do, they didn't get it from me." Westmoreland replies.

"Keep it that way and I promise I will get this to your daughter." Michael tucks the pocket-watch safely inside the breast-pocket in his jacket and rushes away.


	42. Chapter 42: False Report

FFCh42:

"Well Link, it looks like you'll be spending the night in the lavish comfort of the infirmary." Sara jokes as she checks Links' vitals for the hundredth time. She places two slender fingers across his wrist to check his pulse and looks down at her watch. As she does so she notices it is already 5.40pm. "How are you feeling now?"

"I feel fine, just like all the other times you've asked." Link replies gently. "So there's no chance I'll be sent back to my cell tonight?" Link asks sounding a little anxious.

"Not a chance." Sara reassures him. "The lab closed ten minutes ago and we haven't received your blood results back yet so I'm afraid you're stuck here for the night." Sara lets Links' hand drop back beside him and hears the handcuffs rattle softly against the metal rail of the bed. "I'm sorry about the handcuffs but its procedure- no unsecured prisoners are allowed in the infirmary, not after what happened last time."

"I understand." Link replies, but seems distracted.

"Are you sure you feel okay?" Sara asks again.

"I'm fine." Link replies, suddenly sounding a little on edge. Before Sara has a chance to ask him what's bothering him, a humming sound distracts her as the fax whirs into life. She crosses the room and studies the document the fax spat out.

"I'm sorry, Link. It looks like I spoke too soon." Sara replies walking back to Link without looking up from the page.

"What's that?" Link asks, though he can guess.

"Your test results. Everything seems to be within normal limits." Sara replies sounding disappointed.

"That's good, right?" Link questions her, sounding a little worried.

"I'm sorry. Yes, you are perfectly healthy." Sara adds but still she doesn't sound happy.

"But?" Link prompts her.

"Because your test results show you're healthy, I can't keep you here. I'm required to have you returned to your cell. I'm very sorry."

"It's okay." Link replies, trying not to give away his true feelings about returning to his cell.

"I promised Michael I would look after you, but I can't break protocol." Sara continues obviously feeling guilty.

"I understand. I wouldn't want to get you into any trouble. You've taken good care of me and Michael will understand that." Link reassures her.

Sara sighs and walks over to the phone.

"Can I please have someone escort Lincoln Burrows back to his cell." Sara says, but Link barely notices her as he stares intently at the brand new, shiny keycard lock on the infirmary door.


	43. Chapter 43: Breaking up the Partnership

Michael spots Sucre as the whistle blows to signal the end to recreation time in the yard. He rushes up and pushes in line behind Sucre, jostling the man behind him.

"Hey, watch it asshole!" The inmate growls as he steps backwards, allowing Michael cut in line.

"Sorry." Michael replies absently. He focuses all his attention on Sucre.

"Now is the time." Michael whispers into Sucres' ear. "You have to decide now? Are you in or are you out?"

"Now!" Sucre replies, the stress causing his voice to rise.

"Keep it down." Michael commands. "Yes. Now. What's it gonna be hombre? I can't force you to come with me, but if you don't you need to get yourself out of that cell, so you can't be blamed when its searched."

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph. You're really gonna go through with it." Sucre kisses the religious medallion around his neck and takes a deep breath. "I can't. I love Marie-Cruz but if I fly, she will always be running. Its no life to raise a family. I only have a few months left on my bit, if you could talk to her."

"Consider it done." Michael smiles. "Its been an honour sharing a cell with you, Sucre."

"You too, pappi." Sucre stops jus short of the gate. "Good luck."

"You too. Time for some action." Michael says and steps backwards into the inmate behind him again.

"I said watch it punk." The inmate shouts, shoving Michael into Sucre.

"Why don't you watch it, you son of a whore." Sucre shouts back, stepping between the inmate and Michael.

"What did you call my mother?" The inmate screams, and swings at Sucre. Sucre ducks in time and lands a blow to the inmates' stomach. The inmate rises up and hits Sucre in the face, splitting his lip. Sucre charges and they go down to the ground, tussling as the guards rush over.

"Knock it off." One of the guards shouts, pulling Sucre to his feet.

"He started it." Sucre shouts.

"He called my mother a whore." The other inmate yells back, struggling against the guard holding him in a head lock.

"Solitary. Both of you." The second guard shouts and begins dragging the inmate away. The first guard follows, shoving Sucre in the back every few feet.

As Sucre passes Michael they exchange knowing glances and silent goodbyes.


	44. Chapter 44 Every man alone

Ch. 45

Sucre kneels in the dark, with only a thin sliver of light passing from under the heavy metal door to illuminate the cramped, damp space where he sits and waits. His lips move silently as he prays, turning his medallion around and around in his trembling fingers. Images of his best friend, Michael, being mowed down by the guards automatic rifles as he attempts to escape, flash through Sucre's mind, only make him pray that much more intensely. He wonders when it will begin, any second now. He thinks of Michael and how he has done so much to free his brother but had risked it all when he had trusted Sucre enough to let him in on the plan, to offer him a chance at freedom too. Though they had only shared a cell for a few months, they too had become friends. No, more than that. Michael and Sucre were brothers now and he would do anything for Michael, as Michael had for him. Sucre takes a deep breath and holds it in anticipation. Sucre already misses his brother but the fear of what will happen to him when the guards come to question him rise up and take hold in the cool darkness. His prayers fade away, swallowed by the darkness within. He is truly in solitary now.

Link sits impatiently, his foot tapping on the floor. It seems like every thirty seconds he glances at his watch in the dark, becoming more agitated each time. As the seconds pass, his hand instinctively fiddles with the symbol around his neck. Even though he knows he's about to do the most dangerous thing he's ever done, his thoughts keep turning back to Ella.

He knew neither of them intended to form any sort of relationship- she was hired by Michael to help them escape, but that night she spent in his cell something much deeper surfaced between them.

Ella scares him- he knows that for sure. The way she can change from the sweet, gentle girl with the cute smile into a lethal psychopath in less than a second, confuses and terrifies him. Is she the girl or the monster? And yet after what she had told him in the infirmary, he can understand all of the things she has done. Link wonders if someone made her into a monster, whether he can help her change back. Does he want her because she is dangerous? No. Why then? Because of everything- everything she is, everything she has ever done, everything about her makes her so different. What a cliché. He wants her. If only he could talk to her. The way Ella sees the world is so different, could she ever understand the kiss he had shared with Veronica. Would he get a chance to explain? The alarm on his digital watch sounds out in the darkness interrupting his thoughts and sending his heart racing. He drags the bed away from the wall and follows Ella's instructions, pulling the necklace leather in two and carefully pushing the sticky explosive against the wall. He flips the bed on its side as far away from the volatile explosive as possible and takes up position behind it for protection. He takes aim and throws the metal symbol at the explosive.

In a flash, the darkness lifts and the quiet night becomes thick with sound. His sight blurs as his eyes fight to recover from the sudden, intense blaze of light and all sound is muffled; everything sounds like it is under water. The room becomes overwhelmed by dust, choking the breath in Lincolns' lungs as he struggles to his feet.

The walls shudder deep in the bowels of the prison, as dust falls on Sucre's almost bald head. There is no silence now, just a series of explosions, one after another echoing in a deafening tirade down the cold brick corridors, threatening to burst his eardrums. He screams as he prays again, though nothing can be heard but the noise outside. Sucre instinctively covers his ears trying hopelessly to drown out the thunder and waits for the sirens to begin.


	45. Chapter 45: Chain Reaction

FFCh46: Chain Reaction

Ella sits in the darkness of her truck, concealed not only by the tinted windows but the shadow of the large weeping willow hanging above her, bending toward her with apathetic branches. The night seems to sense her hurt; the moon looks away, casting her into shadows so black that she is a barely visible silhouette in the cold empty street. She watches the fog crawling along the ground, rolling toward the ominous black prison wall that seems to push back against the white mist keeping it from ever touching its glistening wet surface. The fog almost obscures the abandoned navy blue Jeep pulled to the side of the road less than one hundred metres ahead, its bonnet lifted to indicate it has broken down. The light above the jeep is broken, the glass in the dirt glinting gently in the moonlight. She doesn't know why she is here, watching, waiting. It's such a risk, and yet she can't she make herself leave. There is nothing here for her now. Suddenly the sky lights up as flashes of light leap over the walls of the prison in a beautifully violent fireworks display. Her comforting darkness is chased away, and she is exposed by the light. Quickly she turns over the engine of her truck, turns the wheel full lock and spins her wheels on the loose gravel as she speeds away, running after the darkness, running away from the white hot light that threatens to expose the jagged edges of her broken heart.

* * *

As Michael perches precariously on the very edge of his cell bed in petrified stillness, like an ancient statue, his watch beeps and within seconds he feels the floor beneath him tremble. He can hear the inmates in the cells around him, above and below him, rushing to their cell doors shouting in confusion, banging on the bars to get the guards attention. Instead, Michael sprints to the back of his cell and pulls the filthy silver toilet from its space against the wall. He dives through the hole hidden behind it, in such a rush to wriggle through the tiny gap that he catches his ribs on the right side. The adrenaline pumping through his veins masks the pain as he drags himself through and pulls the toilet back behind him. No time to make sure the toilet is in its right position; this will be the last time he ever crawls through that space. He squeezes past the hot pipes running along the thin passageway and passes through the hole in the wall he and Sucre had drilled by hand. The ground beneath him continues to shake, sometimes just a small shudder, other times like an earthquake. He talks himself through his escape route again and again in his head, hastening towards the place where he will meet his brother.

* * *

All along the corridor leading to Lincoln's cell a series of small explosions, one triggering the next, detonate in blinding flashes, moving further away from his cell door, sealing the corridor to prevent guards from interrupting his escape. Link staggers to his feet, stumbling as he steps over rubble, groping with unsteady hands as he searches for the gaping fissure in the wall, through the blinding dust hanging in the air. He is covered in a fine white powder, even the tiny stubbly regrowth on the top of his head and his chin has a light coating, making him appear as a pale ghost of his former self, though he knows he is no apparition. The blood pounds in his ears, the deafening sound like the roar of a fierce ocean, disorienting him in the small room. His hands find the wall, and it seems as if to cold hard stone is beating in time with his heart as the tremors from hundreds of tiny secondary explosive devices are triggered in a chain reaction throughout the prison grounds. He pulls away some loose bricks to widen the gap and crouches to climb through into the crawl space. He curses to himself at the time spent in the yard working out, had he not, he would have fit comfortably in the cramped space he now finds himself in. Instead he finds he can just bend his knees enough against the wall in front that he can lift his feet and push against the wall behind him with his back. Pressing as hard as he can he begins to slowly scale up between the two rough blue stone walls. All the chaos cannot stop him from picturing her face, tears streaming down her pale cheeks; her steely blue eyes the most lovely, terrifying thing he has ever seen. The thought of seeing her drives him further, pushing himself upwards with all his strength.


	46. Chapter 46: Out of the Darkness

FFCh47

Michael crouches low as he sprints across the slippery prison roof, darting from cover to cover, trying to avoid detection. He counts his steps, measuring the distance from the last old brick chimney- thirteen, fourteen, fifteen steps. He stops and drops to his stomach. A light from the guard tower sweeps just inches above him and he pushes himself further into the roof tiles, trying to be invisible. He places his ear against the roof's surface and listens intently for a break in the fireworks exploding around the grounds. A moment of silence confirms that he is in the right location. With one quick look to ensure he will not be seen, he rises to his knees and begins ripping at the tiles with his bare hands.

'What can you see, Link?' Michael calls in his high pitched eight year old voice.

'Nothing, its too dark. Hand me the torch.' Link replies, his voice already deepened at fourteen years old, muffled by the dirt walls that surround them.

Michael crawls further into their little tunnel and reaches forward past Links' legs to pass him the torch.

'I can't reach it, Michael.' Link calls back to him. 'You have to move up.'

'Link, I don't think we should be in here. Let's go back.' Michael starts backing up in the cramped space.

'No way. Don't you want to see where it goes?' Link refuses to back up too. 'Don't be scared, I won't let anything happen to you.'

'Promise?' Michael asks, still unsure.

'Have a little faith, Michael. I'm sure this tunnel goes somewhere cool. Maybe we'll find some treasure hidden at the end and then we won't have to stay in that house anymore.' He says with enthusiasm.

'Cool.' Michael says, smiling easily lead by his brother.

Pass me the flashlight so I can see the treasure, Michael.' Link orders. Despite being scared in the cramped darkness, Michael crawls forward and jams himself up against Links legs so he can pass the flashlight to his big brother.

'Almost got it. Just a little further, Michael.' Link coaxes Michael, while stretching as far back as he can. His fingertips touch the end of the bright flashlight, casting shadows onto the walls of the dark mud walls. Michael crawls on top of Link's legs and pushes himself up against the roof; trying to get past his bigger brothers' lower body. The roof of the tunnel starts to disintegrate and dirt falls gently on Michaels' head.

'Link.' He calls out, realising he's trapped. Panic sets in. 'Link, Link! I'm stuck. Help!' He cries.

'Its okay, keep still.' Link orders trying to wriggle forward to free his little brother. Finally, he frees himself and crawls forward a few feet to give Michael some space to breathe.

'Are you okay?' He calls back, hearing Michael sobbing in the tunnel behind him. Michael swipes away his tears and is about the reply when dirt from the roof of the tunnel starts to fall in front of him like rain. He sees Link disappearing behind the dirt as it starts to fall faster and tries to go forward towards his big brother, but as soon as the falling dirt hits his little head he panics again and backs up.

Suddenly the dirt roof collapses in, cutting him off from Link completely.

'Link, Link!' He screams, dirt and dust choking him. The tunnel starts to fall down around him as he scampers back as fast as he can. Within seconds he is outside the tunnel, watching the ground above fall in on itself, forming a channel in the surface of the little hillside. Michael picks himself up and runs to the top of the hill. He drops to the ground with his ear pressed firmly to the dirt. He hears what he is listening for and starts to desperately dig with his bare hands, shredding his skin against the tough soil and rocks, all the while crying out his brother's name.

Out of the darkness, Link's hand appears, suddenly bringing Michael back to the present, all thoughts of that day in the quarry and the terror it held for him forgotten. Without hesitation Michael reaches out and takes his brother's hand in his, pulling him free from the shadows for the second time in their lives.


End file.
